I Love You
by Piper Elizabeth
Summary: A series of unconnected one-shots in which Burgess and Ruzek first say "I Love You" to each other. Each chapter will be a different scenario that somehow ends up with those three important words! Burzek all the way!
1. Chapter 1 - Sick

**Title:** I Love You

**Rating:** Strong T for some language and normal adult behavior

**Disclaimer:** Chicago PD and its affiliated characters do not belong to me. I mean no copyright infringement. I only use them as a means to de-stress myself.

**Summary:** A series of unconnected one-shots in which Burgess and Ruzek first say "I Love You" to each other. Each chapter will be a different scenario that somehow ends up with those three important words! Burzek all the way!

**Spoilers: **I tried to stay away from very specific things, but I suggest you watch the series for these one-shots to make sense.

**Note:** I accidentally posted the wrong first chapter so if you started this story before, you might notice there are several changes. My apologizes for the mix-up in chapters!

**Chapter 1 – Sick**

**Warning: If reading about vomit makes you ill, I would skip this chapter. **

Knowing she had less than twenty minutes to hop in the shower, dry her hair, throw on something decent, and maybe put a little bit of makeup, Burgess dropped her bag as soon as she walked in the door. She raced to the bathroom and turned on the shower. As the water heated up, she ran into the kitchen, hoping to find a snack. She hadn't eaten in over ten hours and her stomach was growling for food. Burgess found a mostly brown banana sitting in a fruit bowl in the middle of the table. She peeled it and took a bite, racing back into the bathroom. As the banana settled in her stomach, she could feel and hear her stomach gurgle. Thinking it was just because she was famished, she quickly finished off the banana before jumping in the shower.

After showering in record time, Burgess dried herself off and ran into her bedroom. Her stomach was still feeling off even after the banana and the shower. Ignoring it, she quickly dug out a pair of underwear, a matching, black bra, skinny Jeans and a black tank top from her bureau and began to pull them on. The whole time she could feel her stomach churning. Something was definitely not right. Once her tank top was pulled over her head, she could feel the undeniable feeling that she was about to throw up. Burgess raced to the bathroom and emptied the banana she had just eaten into the toilet. Within a few seconds, she felt another wave of nausea hit her and she vomited a second time.

Her first thought was probably what most thirty-something year old women thought when they threw up. She couldn't help but wonder if she was pregnant. She shook the thought from her mind, though. She had just had her period the week before and she and Ruzek were very careful. There was no way she was pregnant. Her second thought was to think about what she had last eaten. Besides the banana, she had had a bowl of Special K cereal for breakfast and that was it for the whole day. It clearly wasn't anything she ate. Her next thought was the precinct. Hadn't Platt said that at least four or five other cops were out because they had come down with some kind of stomach virus? Burgess nearly cringed when she remembered Platt saying it had lasted a good twenty-four hours.

"Crap," she muttered. Despite the fact that she had stopped throwing up, her stomach still felt unsettled.

After flushing the toilet and rinsing out her mouth with minty mouthwash, Burgess went to where she dropped her bag at the front door. She dug through the contents until she found her cell-phone. She checked the time. She was supposed to meet Ruzek at Molly's in four minutes. With the way her stomach was feeling, there was no way she was going to make it to Molly's at all. She quickly texted Ruzek to give him the bad news.

'Count me out for Molly's. Got that stomach bug. Call you later.'

With her stomach still churning, she went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Her phone buzzed in her hand. Ruzek had texted her back.

'Sorry. Need anything? Want me 2 stop by?'

'No. Thanks. Don't want u to get sick too.'

'Feel better.'

As soon as she read his text, she had to go running back into the bathroom. Clearly the water didn't sit well with her.

Two hours later, Burgess was lying on the bathroom floor. The cold tile was making her feel a little bit better. When she had tried to move before, she found out the hard way that standing up was a bad idea. It made her head swim and her legs nearly gave way. She had lost count of the amount of times she had thrown up. Since there was nothing even in her stomach, she was mostly throwing up bile and phlegm, but her stomach didn't seem to care. What was making her more miserable was the fact that Ruzek had sent her a picture of the entire Intelligence unit doing shots at Molly's while she was stuck on her bathroom floor. She knew she couldn't blame him for having a goo time, but it still didn't seem fair.

As Burgess rested her head against a folded up towel on the floor, she closed her eyes. She was hoping that maybe a little bit of sleep, even on the hard bathroom floor, would help. Her thought of sleep was interrupted when she heard someone turning the knob of her apartment door. Panicked, she scrambled to her feet, which both her stomach and her head did not like. Nausea washed over her almost instantly, but she knew she didn't have time to stop and vomit again. She had to protect herself. She half walked, half crawled into her attached bedroom and grabbed the gun she always kept in her top bureau drawer. She made her way to the doorway of her bedroom, keeping her back against the wall. She peaked out and heard the front door opening. Saying a little prayer that she'd be able to stay on her feet without throwing up, she stepped out from behind the wall.

"Hands up!" She shouted.

"Hey, woah!" Ruzek yelled. "Burgess, it's me!"

She immediately lowered the gun.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, exhaling the breath she didn't know she had been holding.

"Bringing you some soup, crackers, and ginger ale" he answered, holding up a brown paper bag. "I wasn't sure if you were sleeping so I just used your spare key."

"Sorry," she apologized, stepping closer to him. "I thought someone was breaking in."

"You look like hell."

"Thanks."

She could only imagine how she looked. She had thrown her hair back in a messy ponytail so she wouldn't get puke on it. And, after throwing up as many times as she did, she bet she had dried throw up crusted on her face.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Like hell."

"Are you hungry?"

Ruzek put the soup down on a kitchen counter. He opened the top of the takeout container. The smell of chicken noodle soup filled the apartment. Burgess' stomach gurgled, but not in a good way. This time, she couldn't make it to the bathroom before she threw up. She threw up right in the middle of the floor.

"Oh babe," he said with a sigh.

She ran into the bathroom, throwing up a second time in the toilet. As Ruzek went to go into the bathroom with her, she managed to slam the door in his face and lock it. She sat on the floor with her back against the door.

"Kim…" he began.

"Go home," she said with as much effort as she could muster.

"Open the door, Kim," he replied.

"No."

"Open the door, Kim," he repeated.

"Why? I'm contagious and hideous and I don't need you in here watching me throw up."

"You could never be hideous."

The sentiment actually made her smile. "Please go home, Adam."

"Don't make me shoot the lock of this door."

"You wouldn't."

"Try me."

"Adam, please…you already saw me throw up in the middle of my apartment. I don't need you seeing me…like this."

"I can help. I want to help."

"Why?"

"Because that's what people do when the care about each other. They take care of each other when they're sick." He paused, waiting to hear the sound of the lock opening. "Just open the door."

Burgess thought about what he was saying. Just the fact that he was willing to risk his own health to be with her made her realize she wanted him in there with her even more. Reluctantly, Burgess unlocked the door. She scooted out of the way, closer to the toilet. Ruzek opened the door slowly.

"You really should go home," she stated.

"I'd rather stay here with you."

"You're risking contamination."

"I'm willing to take that risk," he said.

He walked over to where she was sitting on the floor. Grabbing a facecloth, he wet it with cold water, and brought it to Burgess' forehead. She closed her eyes, leaning her head against the wall.

"I think you have puke in your hair."

"That's not funny."

"It's ok. You're still sexy as hell."

"Now that's definitely not funny."

He smiled. "Come on," he said. "I'll help you into bed."  
"It's too far," she whined.

"Babe, you can't stay on the floor."

"Why not? It's a very comfy floor," she muttered. "Besides, it's close to the toilet."

He couldn't help but chuckle. "Ok."

He slid down beside her. Gently, he brought her head down to his lap. She curled up against him. He brushed her hair away from her face while keeping the cool cloth on her forehead. Within minutes, she was asleep.

After nearly half an hour of having Burgess passed out on his knee, Ruzek decided they couldn't spend the night on the bathroom floor. Willing to take the risk, he managed to slide her head off his knee without waking her up. In a squatting position, he was able to get both arms around her and he picked her up. He carried her to the bedroom and laid her out on the bed. Not wanting to take any chances that she might wake up and have to puke again, he grabbed the garbage can from the bathroom and placed it next to the bed. After covering her with the blanket, he kissed her lightly on the forehead.

"Goodnight," he whispered. "I love you."

He let the words hang in the air. He hadn't planned on saying them and he knew she didn't even hear him, but they just felt right. Smiling to himself, he went off in search of a mop and bucket to clean up the mess on the floor in the kitchen.

The next morning, Ruzek awoke with a strange feeling in his stomach. He opened his eyes, expecting to see Burgess lying beside him in bed. Her spot was empty. Trying to ignore his gurgling stomach, he climbed out of the bed and found her in the kitchen. She was stirring a glass of liquid.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi."

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to flatten the ginger ale. My grandmother always said stirring it with a spoon made it go flat faster," she explained.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better."

"All puked out?" He asked with a smile.

"God, I hope so. Thank you for cleaning up after me last night and for carrying me to bed. You didn't have to do that."

"It's what you do for the people you…care about," he replied. He wasn't sure why he didn't use the word love. He just knew that when he told her for the first time when she was conscious that he loved her, he wanted it to be special. He didn't want to blurt it out while she stirred ginger ale in her kitchen.

"You definitely win the best boyfriend award."

"You can brag to all your friends about me."

"If only I could tell my friends about you," she said.

"True."

Ruzek put his hand to his stomach. Something did not feel right.

"You ok?" She asked.

Ruzek made a mad dash towards the bathroom. Burgess could hear him throwing up from the kitchen. She went to the bathroom doorway. His head was still buried in the toilet, throwing up for a second time. For some reason, seeing that he had been willing to contaminate himself to be with her and got sick because of it, made her heart swell.

"I love you too," she whispered with a smile.

"What was that?" Adam asked after he had finished throwing up. "Did you say something?"

"Just that I'll get the mouthwash."  
She grabbed the mouthwash from the cabinet and sat down beside him on the bathroom floor. They were both in for a long day.

Author's Note: Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the story. Ruzek and Burgess are my new TV couple "obsession." The ideas for these one-shots have been floating around in my head for a while. 3 snow days in a row have really given me the time to sit and write them down and I'm loving them! As of right now, I'm planning about 10 chapters but if I keep coming up with ideas, I will keep writing. Please don't forget to review – they make me very happy!


	2. Chapter 2 - Running Late

**Chapter 2 - Running Late**

She woke up slowly, letting her mind and body lazily drift into consciousness. Before even opening her eyes, she was keenly aware that his arm was draped over her torso. She could feel his legs intertwined with hers and the heat of his body warming her. She smiled with her eyes still closed, feeling happy and content. She loved every morning she got to wake up next to him. With their crazy schedules, that didn't always happen, so she had learned to appreciate it all the more when it did.

Burgess rolled over, trying her best not to jostle him too much. She knew when she opened her eyes, she wanted to see his face. As she shifted, he unconsciously pulled her closer to him. She opened her eyes and saw that her face was only inches from his sleeping face. She leaned in, giving him a quick kiss on the nose. Sighing, she snuggled into him, breathing in his masculine scent. She began to run her index finger up and down his muscular arm, trying to wake him up slowly. She knew they both had to go to work, but she was hoping they could maybe squeeze in some morning sex before they had to leave.

"When I went to sleep, I was alone. Now there seems to be a strange, but beautiful brunette in my bed," he mumbled, his eyes still closed.

"How do you know I'm a brunette? You haven't even looked at me."

"Lucky guess," he said with a smile on her face. He finally opened his eyes. "I was right, you are a beautiful brunette."

"Lucky guess," she teased.

"You must have gotten in late last night."

"Yeah, sorry. I used the spare key. I hope you don't mind."

"That's what it's there for," he told her.

"You had a key outside so that strange women can climb into your bed in the middle of the night?"

"Only if that strange woman happens to be you."

She smiled. "I tried to get here earlier before you went to bed, but had some paperwork to finish for Platt. And it's not exactly like I could tell her I couldn't do it because I was dying to get home to jump into bed with my man."

"You were dying to get into bed with me, huh?" He teased.

"Maybe," she replied, running her hand over his chest.

"You should have woken me last night."

"You looked too peaceful."

"Well, we have a lot to make up for this morning, don't we?"

"You can say that again."

Without so much as another word, Ruzek rolled on top of her, pinning her body with his own. As he leaned in to kiss her, Burgess heard her phone vibrate on the bedside table. She turned her head to look at it just as Ruzek's lips were about to meet hers. He face planted into the pillow.

"You're getting your phone _now_?" He questioned.

"It could be the department."

Burgess reached for her phone. She looked at the screen and gasped. She pushed him off of her and threw the covers off her bare legs. Ruzek couldn't help but notice she was wearing one of his T-shirts, panties, and nothing else. If it weren't for the look of panic on her face, he would have pounced on her right then. He loved seeing her in his clothes.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"That was Roman wondering where I am. I was supposed to be in thirty minutes ago," she exclaimed, running into the bathroom. "I must have forgotten to set my alarm last night!" She looked at herself in the mirror. She knew she must have looked rough after only getting a few hours of sleep, but she didn't expect to look as bad as she did. She turned on the shower.

"So you're a little late, big deal," Ruzek said from the bedroom.

"It is a big deal to Platt! She won't let me live it down. And aren't you supposed to be at work, too?"

Ruzek yawned. "We don't have a case. Voight will understand."

"Lucky you."

Burgess stripped off her clothes and hopped in the shower. Ruzek couldn't help but smile to himself. He thought it was cute when Burgess got so worked up over little things. After lying in bed for another minute, Ruzek finally willed himself to actually get out of bed. As he made his way into the bathroom, he peeled off his boxer shorts. He stood in front of the shower and was about to pull open the shower curtain to join Burgess in the shower when she spoke.

"No!" She stated.

"No what?" He replied.

"No you cannot take a shower with me."

"Why not?" He asked. He grabbed the edge of the shower curtain and tried to pull it. It didn't move. He realized Burgess had a hold on it and was preventing him from opening it.

"Because I'm already late!"

"Well, what better way to save time than for both of us to take a shower at the same time? I'll be on my best behavior. I promise."

"No! Because despite what you say, it's never just a shower with you."

"Come on. You sneak into my bed late last night and don't wake me up to have sex and now you're denying me morning, shower sex? That's just wrong."

The shower turned off. Burgess pulled the shower curtain open, stepped out, obviously completely naked. She nearly smacked right into Ruzek's body, but she managed to sidestep him. Having none of it, he snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her towards him.

"I'm late," she whined although she wasn't putting up much resistance.

"It would be terrible to waste all this nakedness," he said.

He leaned over and began kissing her neck. She moaned and melted into him.

"What the hell?" She muttered, giving in. "I'm already late."

He smiled at her like he had won some small victory. He pinned her against the bathroom wall, her back hitting the cold tile. He continued to assault her with his mouth. As she buried her hands in his hair, they both heard his cell phone ringing from the bedroom. He stopped kissing her.

"Let it ring," she said.

They continued making out as Ruzek's phone stopped ringing. Just as soon as it stopped, though, it started up again.

"Damn it," he muttered, knowing he had to answer it.

Burgess sighed as Ruzek released her and walked back into the bedroom. He picked up the phone. It was Voight on the other end. While he talked, Burgess grabbed the clothes she was wearing the day before and began getting dressed. Ruzek reappeared in the bathroom a few minutes later, wearing his boxer shorts.

"Let me guess, you have a case," Burgess said.

"Yeah. Sorry."

Burgess shrugged. "I guess we'll have to pick up where we left off later on. I'll see you tonight? My place?"

"Sure," he agreed. Burgess brushed past him, throwing her hair in a wet, sloppy ponytail as she walked. She grabbed her cell phone and walked out of the bedroom, into the living room. "Are you going to wear that?"

Burgess looked down at what she was wearing. It was just Jeans and a T-Shirt. She didn't know what was wrong with it.

"What's the problem? I'll change into my uniform when I get there."

"Didn't you walk out wearing that last night?"

"So?" She countered.

"Did Platt see you?"

"I handed her my paperwork before I walked out, why?" Burgess asked, wondering what he was getting at. She continued to walk towards the front door, looking for her bag.

"Platt's going to notice that you're wearing the same clothes this morning that you were last night."

"Crap," Burgess said, knowing that she couldn't get anything past Platt. "I don't have time to go home and change. I'll just have to…sneak past."

"Good luck with that."

"Thanks for your confidence," she said, finally spotting her bag where she had dropped it on the couch. "I'll just tell her I fell asleep in my clothes and since I was running late, I just came in those clothes."

"So…you fell asleep in those clothes, but then you woke up and showered and put the same clothes back on? Platt's not going to buy it."

"Well, I don't have another choice," she stated as she pulled her keys out of her bag.

"You could leave some clothes here. You know, have a drawer or space in the closet or whatever."

"You want me to start leaving some of my things here?"

He shrugged, acting like it was no big deal. "If you want to."

"That's kind of a…big step."

"Yeah, I know. I just thought…you know, we were…there."

She walked to the door. He followed her, not sure if he had pushed things a little too far. Maybe they weren't quite 'there' like he thought they were.

"Ok," she agreed.

"Ok?"

"Yeah. It'll be nice to have some things here so I'm not always sleeping in your clothes."

"I like when you sleep in my clothes. Very sexy."

She smiled. "I really have to go."

"Have a good day. Be safe," he said.

He leaned in and kissed her quickly on the cheek.

"You too. Bye. I love you."

Burgess went to turn around to leave when she realized what she had said. She stopped dead in her tracks. Those three words had just come out so fast, she hadn't really known what she was saying. It just felt normal to kiss him goodbye and tell him she loved him. She hadn't stopped to think about the fact that that was the first time she had ever said those three words to him.

"I…I…" she stuttered, not sure what to say. She didn't even have time to stop and think if she meant the words. "I have to go."

She bolted down the hallway and out the front door.

It was late when Ruzek showed up at Burgess' door. He hadn't seen her all day. They hadn't had even a second to talk about what had transpired that morning. Ruzek had thought about it at least a hundred times that day. Surprised by her admission that she loved him, he hadn't said anything in return. It had all just happened so fast. He had come to the conclusion throughout the day, though, that he knew exactly what he should have said. It was a feeling he had been feeling for a long time.

Ruzek picked up the doormat in front of Burgess' apartment door and grabbed the key underneath. He had told her at least a dozen times that hiding her key under the doormat was not a good idea, but she just didn't listen. He put the key into the lock and opened the door. Her apartment was dark except for a small light she left on for him above the stove. Ruzek made his way through her apartment into her bedroom. He had gotten accustomed to walking through in the dark. Burgess was sitting up in bed, reading on her e-reader. She looked up as he walked in.

"You're still awake," he observed.

"I…ah…couldn't sleep. How was your day?"

"Long," Ruzek answered.

"What kind of case did you get?"

"Drugs. Trying to identify a drug king-pin. Trouble is, no one will talk."

"I'm sure the team will figure it out eventually."

"Yeah. How was your day?"

She shrugged. "Nothing exciting."

As they chatted, Ruzek had stripped off his shirt and pants, leaving him in his boxers. He climbed into bed beside her. Unlike that morning, when they had woken up, tangled in each others' arms, they were completely distant from each other. They weren't even touching.

"Look, Kim, about earlier…"

"I'm sorry," she blurted out. She turned her body so she was facing him. "It just popped out. I wasn't even really thinking about it. I was just in such a hurry, I didn't know what I was saying. I didn't mean it."

"Ok," he said, feeling like maybe his idea of telling her his true feelings suddenly wasn't a good idea anymore.

"Not that I didn't mean it because I didn't not mean it. I just…I didn't even know I was going to say it before I said it. If I had known I was going to say it, I wouldn't have…said it like that. I mean, I don't know how I would have said it. I just know that it came out wrong and at the wrong time and…"

"Burgess," Ruzek said, interrupting her. He knew she could probably go on rambling forever if her let her and, as cute as she was while she was doing it, he had something he needed to tell her first.

"Sorry," she apologized.

"I love you," he stated simply.

She smiled. "You do?"

"Yeah, I do."

She just couldn't wipe the smile off her face. "Good, because I love you too."

"I think I heard that this morning." He scooted closer to her. "And now that we have that out of the way, I would really like to get back to something else we were doing this morning."

"Oh? What's that?" She asked even though she knew full well what he was talking about.

He grabbed her, pulling her on top of him. She leaned into him, attempting to kiss him, but he put his finger up between their lips.

"One rule before we get started."

"What's that?"

"We're not stopping to answer our phones. Deal?"

"Deal."

Author's Note: I got the idea for this chapter from that movie _Fever Pitch_ when Jimmy Fallon's character takes care of Drew Barrymore's character. I just thought it was super cute. Anyway, I hope you liked it. Keep the reviews coming!


	3. Chapter 3 - Snow Day

**Chapter 3 – Snowed In**

Burgess stood at the window, staring out. She watched the white flakes fall from the sky, adding to the snow that already littered the ground. The usual sounds of cars honking and people walking by were gone. The only sound was the howling wind. As she watched the snow falling, Burgess sipped the glass of wine in her hand. She heard Ruzek approaching behind her. He wrapped his arm around her and rested his chin on top of her head.

"It's really coming down," he said.

"Yeah. It looks like we already have a few inches on the ground."

"The weatherman says we should get at least twenty inches by morning. And the best part is, we both have tomorrow off so we have the next twenty-four hours all to ourselves."

Burgess turned around so she was facing him. He leaned in to kiss her, but she turned her head.

"You did buy enough supplies, right?"

"Yes. We'll be fine."

He attempted to kiss her again, but she put her hand on his chest, stopping him.

"We have flashlights and batteries and bottled water and…"

"Yes," he interrupted. "I've lived in Chicago my whole life. This isn't my first snowstorm, you know."

"I know. It's just the first time I've been in a snowstorm at somebody else's house. I always make sure I'm prepared at my place so I just want to make sure that you're prepared, too."

He raised his eyebrow. "You've never been snowed in at a boyfriend's house before?"

"Why are you asking me that like you're shocked? Wait…how many women have you been snowed in with before?"

"Just…a few I guess."

"A few?"

"It doesn't matter. I'm here with you and you're the only one I want to be snowed in with. And I promise you, we have enough supplies. I have flashlights and batteries and extra bottles of water and enough bread and milk to last us a week."

"Milk? I didn't think you drank milk."

"I don't really, but my dad always said when a big storm was coming to make sure you have plenty of bread and milk. So, that's what I always buy when there's a big storm."

"As long as you're sure we're prepared."

"We're prepared," he assured her. "Now, can I please kiss you?"

She smiled and nodded. Ruzek's lips finally met hers. The kiss started slow, both of them taking their time feeling and tasting. Without breaking the kiss, Ruzek managed to take her wine glass from her and put it down on the bookshelf. He wanted her and he didn't want anything to stand in his way. With his arm still around her, he started walking backward, taking her with him.

"Wait…Adam…" she panted in between kisses. He ignored her, continuing to walk with her towards the couch. He fell backwards onto the couch, pulling Burgess on top of him. He attached his lips to her neck and kissed a trail down towards her collarbone. He reached for the bottom of her shirt, trying to pull it up and over her head.

"Adam…" she repeated, finally separating herself from him and sitting up.

"What is it?" He asked, desperately wanting to get his hands on her again.

"This isn't a good time," she answered.

"What are you talking about?"

"Sex. This isn't a good time for sex."

"Why is this not a good time for sex? Because, in my book, any time is a good time for sex."

"It just isn't," she said.

"Babe, we're stuck inside for at least the next twelve hours. What did you think we were going to do?"

"It's just…it's a bad time of the month."

"Bad time of the month? What are you talking about?" He questioned.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. It was amazing how smart Ruzek could be when it came to solving a crime, but how clueless he could be as a man.

"My period, Adam. I have my period."

"Oh." She climbed off of him and grabbed her wine glass from where Ruzek had put it. She went into the kitchen to pour herself more wine. Ruzek sat up, feeling disappointed. "You know, it doesn't bother me. We can still…"

"Well, it bothers me," she quickly said.

"Ok. So…no sex?"

"No, Adam," she declared. "We will have to think of something else to do besides sex."

"Right…ok." He couldn't hide the disappointment from his voice. "We'll…find a movie on TV or something."

Ruzek picked up the remote control and flipped on the TV. Burgess joined him on the couch. As he turned on the guide, the TV and the lights blinked off. They both paused, waiting for the lights to turn back on. Nothing happened.

"Power's out," he stated.

"The weathermen warned that might happen. It's a good thing you got those supplies," Burgess commented.

"Yeah," Ruzek agreed, even more disappointed than before.

"Why don't we play a game or something? Do you have Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit or…" she trailed off when she saw he was staring at her like she was an alien with three heads. "What?"

"I'm a grown man. I don't have board games."

"I have board games."

"You're a girl."

"Fine. No board games. We can…play charades or something."

"Charades? Really?"

"Ok, so what's your idea?" He gave her a suggestive look and she rolled her eyes. She knew exactly what his idea was.

"We could just talk," she suggested.

"Yeah, fine," he agreed somewhat sarcastically.

She knew he was frustrated, but she wasn't appreciative of his tone.

"Are you really that mad at me because we can't have sex?"

"No."

"You're lying. You are mad. I'm sorry that I'm a woman and have to deal with menstruating every month, but…"

"Alright, I don't need hear about your…menstruation."

"You're being ridiculous."  
"I'm sorry. I just thought we'd spend the night…you know."  
"Having sex," she filled in. "Yeah, I got it. Sorry to be such a disappointment."

She stood up and went for the front hall closet. She opened the door and grabbed her coat.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Going home."

"Babe, it's too dangerous out there."

"I'll be fine."  
"There's a travel ban," he reminded her.  
"And I'm a cop. I'm sure I won't have a problem."

He stood up and walked over to her as she wrapped her scarf around her neck. He grabbed one end of the scarf and started unwinding it.

"Stay," he said.

"Why? You obviously don't want me here unless I'll have sex with you. And since that's not going to happen for the next five days, I don't see any reason to stay." She pulled her wool hat over her head.

"Kim…"

"Is that all this is to you? Is that all I am to you? Someone to sleep with whenever you feel the need?"

"Of course not. Kim, please, stay. It's not safe out there and you know that." He paused. "Come on, talk to me. I want to talk."

"No you don't."

"I do. Please just don't go."

He could tell he had won by her body language. He tried to help her out of her coat, but she pulled away. She took it off herself and hung it back up in the closet. She plucked the hat off her head and took off her scarf, putting them in the closet with her coat. She stormed over to the couch and sat down on the left cushion. Ruzek went to sit right next to her, but she glared at him. He scooted over, away from her.

"I'm only staying because of the snow," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Ok. Look, you know that what's going on between us isn't just about sex. I know you know that."

"It just seems like whenever we're alone and we're together, we end up in bed."

"I don't remember you complaining before," he said with a wink.

"I'm not complaining." She paused. "I just…I want more."

"I know. I do, too. It's hard when we can't be out in the open about our relationship. To see you at work and know that I can't kiss you or touch you or even say 'good morning' without somebody getting suspicious. It kills me. And then we can't even act like we're together when we got out after work with our friends because all of our friends work at the police department and they can't know either because word will get back to Voight. I hate it."

"I hate it, too."

"So when I heard that here was going to be a snowstorm and I realized neither of us had to work, I thought it was the best opportunity for us to spend time together. And I'm sorry that I want to have sex with you, but it's really good sex."

She smiled. "It is really good sex, isn't it?"

"Hell yes. But I respect you and I know that what we have is so much more than sex. You understand me, more than anybody else ever has. I love spending time with you. I love doing everything with you, not just sex. I'm sorry for being an ass."

"Thank you for apologizing. Trust me, if I had it my way, I would have rescheduled my period." They both couldn't help but laugh. "This won't be the last time my period will get in our way of good sex. But that's just one of the things you have to deal with when you're in a relationship in a woman."

"Maybe I should start dating men," he joked.

"That would be a real shame."

She scooted across the couch and leaned her head against his shoulder. He felt her shiver.

"Are you cold?"

"Without any electricity, there's no heat," she reminded him.

Ruzek grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch and threw it over both of them.

"Guess that means we'll just have to snuggle," he replied.

"I like the sound of that."

He leaned back against the armrest of the couch, propping his feet up. She curled up against him, tucking the blanket closely around them.

"I love you," he whispered into her hair. "You know that, right?"

She wrapped her arms around him.

"I do now. I love you, too."

He kissed the top of her head.

"For what it's worth, there's no one I'd rather not be having sex with than you."

She smiled and placed her against his chest. She could hear his heart beating as she closed her eyes. He stroked her hair. As they sat together, snuggling, the lights all of a sudden flicked back on. The TV came to life.

"Power's back," she said.

Ruzek grabbed the remote. She expected him to search through the guide to find something for them to watch. Instead, he turned the TV off. She smiled at him. He held onto her a little bit tighter and they both fell asleep.

Author's Note: The idea for this particular chapter came to me because of all of the snow days I've had over the last two weeks (today was day #6). I hope you liked it and thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read and review so far! There's a lot more to come!


	4. Chapter 4 - Valentine's Day

**Chapter 4 - Valentine's Day**

Ruzek was bored. He was in the mood to bust down some doors and catch a bad guy, but he was stuck at his desk. The Intelligence team didn't have a case so they were using the day to catch up on neglected paperwork. After hours of staring at his computer screen, Ruzek was dying to stretch his legs.

He eyed his cell phone, hoping there would be a text or a missed call. Just like the dozens of other times he had checked throughout the morning, there was nothing. He glanced at the time. It was almost noon. There was no reason he couldn't sneak away for a little lunch. It wasn't like there was anything else for him to do. Burgess looked over his shoulder, checking to make sure no one was behind him who would be able to read his text. He quickly typed a message to Burgess.

'Free for lunch?'

He stared at his phone, waiting for a response. It only took a minute.

'Just grabbed something with Roman. Sorry. See you tonight?'

'Yeah. Tonight.'

Ruzek sighed, putting his phone back on his desk.

"Making plans for tonight?" Atwater asked, stopping by Ruzek's desk.

"What? No. No plans," Adam answered quickly.

"Ok," Atwater said, a little surprised at Adam's quick denial. "Just thought maybe you were making Valentine's plans or something."

"Valentine's Day? What are you talking about?"

"Today's the big day, my man. You know, the day you take a pretty woman out for a romantic evening and buy her chocolates and crap like that and then hope that she's wearing some sexy lingerie underneath her clothes that she lets you see."

"Wait…today is Valentine's Day?" Ruzek asked.

"February 14th. Same as every year."

"Crap."

"Why? You got some woman you need to impress that you haven't told us about or something? Cause last I checked, you were single."

"No. I just…" Ruzek tried to think of something to say so that he wouldn't reveal his and Burgess' relationship. "I usually get something for my mom. You know, it's a tradition." He knew it was a pretty bad lie, but it was the best he could come up with.

"Right. Well, have fun with your mom tonight," Atwater said, heading back to his own desk.

Ruzek stared at the date on his phone. How had he not realized it was Valentine's Day? He realized quickly that it was the first Valentine's Day he and Burgess would be spending together. He wanted to make it special. The only problem was, he had only five hours until the end of his shift to make that happen.

After his shift ended, Ruzek found himself pushing a shopping cart up and down the aisles of a grocery store, trying to find something he could cook for dinner. During work, he had called every restaurant within a fifty mile radius. Nobody had any openings for dinner. Giving up on the idea of taking Burgess out, Ruzek decided they could just stay in. There were only two problems – he had less than an hour before Burgess was due at his place and there was nothing left at the grocery store to cook. All of the romantic foods he could think of like oysters, lobster, and even the steaks were sold out. Deciding he was just going to have to settle on pasta, Ruzek made his way to the holiday section of the store. He was looking for chocolates or flowers. Everything was sold out.

"Hey, you got any more of those chocolates in the heart shaped boxes in the back?" Ruzek asked a store employee walking by.

"All out," the man answered.

"Really? There's nothing left?"

"Nope. Maybe you should have thought about buying your Valentine something before six o'clock on Valentine's Day."

"Yeah, right. Thanks for your help."

Ruzek took his box of pasta, spaghetti sauce, garlic bread, and a bottle of red wine, and brought it to the front of the store. As he grabbed his bag of groceries, his phone buzzed. It was a message from Burgess.

'Can't wait to see you.'

Ruzek nearly groaned. He did not want to let Burgess down on their first Valentine's Day.

The pasta was just starting to boil in the pot when the doorbell rang. Ruzek wiped his hands on a kitchen towel before going to the door. He opened it and smiled when he saw her. She was wearing a sleeveless, short red dress that hugged her in all the right places. She looked incredible.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey yourself."

"You look beautiful."

"Thank you."

"Come on in."

Burgess entered the room. He shut the door behind them.

"Are you…cooking?" She asked.

"Yeah, you know, I thought we'd do something other than takeout tonight."

"That's sweet. Need some help?"

"Nope. You just sit and relax and have some wine."

He handed her an already poured glass of red wine. She sat down on a bar stool, making herself comfortable.

"Thank you."

"So, how was your day?" He asked, turning his attention back to the food he was cooking. He put the garlic bread out on a tray and slid it into the oven. He turned the oven on and then stirred the pasta.

"Pretty good. Roman and I busted a woman who stabbed her boyfriend in the foot."

"Ooh…ouch."

"Yeah, apparently he was cheating and she was pissed," Burgess explained. "The good news was there was a great little café down the street from the woman's house. Roman treated me to the best broccoli cheddar soup."

"Really? Roman treated you?" Ruzek asked, turning around to look at Burgess.

She smiled. "Are you jealous or something?"

"Of Roman? No way."

"He's pretty cute in that uniform," she teased.

"I'll take your word for it," he replied.

She slid off the stool and walked towards him. Slipping her arms around his torso, she tilted her head back so she could look into his eyes.

"I prefer my men in Jeans and T-shirts," she said.

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him long and hard. His tongue begged entrance into her mouth and she granted him access. He looped his arms around her waist, holding her tightly against him. She dragged one hand into his hair. They were interrupted when they both heard the pot boiling over, sloshing hot water onto the stove.

"Crap," Ruzek muttered.

He disentangled himself from Burgess and took the pot off the stove. He poured the macaroni into a colander at the sink. The pasta was limp. It was clearly overdone.

"I'll set the table," Burgess offered.

"No. No, sit. I don't want you to lift a finger."

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

"What do you mean?" He countered. "I'm always nice to you."

"I know, but usually we cook together. And by cook, I mean microwave."

He laughed. "Tonight's special."

"Why?"

"Because today is…"

He was cut off the by the sound of the smoke alarm. Ruzek looked back at the oven. It was smoking. He quickly turned off the oven, grabbed some oven mitts, and took the tray of garlic bread out. The bread was black. Burgess went to the smoke detector and began waving a sports magazine under the alarm, trying to get it to stop. Ruzek dumped the tray of garlic bread into the garbage just as Burgess got the smoke detector to stop beeping.

"So much for garlic bread," Burgess said.

"I'm sorry."

She shrugged. "It would only give us bad breath. And we don't want that."

"No," he agreed. "We don't."

Ruzek turned to grab the jar of spaghetti sauce. As he moved, he knocked his hand against the hot pan that he had put on the counter. He hissed as the pan burned his skin.

"You alright?" Burgess asked, rushing to his side.

He immediately ran his hand under cold water.

"Yeah. Just a little burn."

"Let me see."

Ruzek took his hand out from under the water. He showed Burgess his finger. There was a small blister forming on the skin. Burgess grabbed a few ice cubes from the freezer, wrapped them in a paper towel, and held it against Ruzek's finger.

"Better?" She asked.

"It might feel better if you kissed it," he suggested. Burgess removed the ice and planted a small kiss on his finger.

"Maybe I should finish cooking," Burgess said.

Burgess picked up the colander of pasta and attempted to pour it into a dish. The pasta stuck together and fell in one large clump.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"About what?" She asked as she poured some spaghetti sauce over the pasta.

"For this…mess. For ruining our night."

"You didn't ruin our night," she insisted.

"Fine, but I ruined Valentine's Day."

"Wait…is that what this is about? You cooking dinner? You wanted to impress me for Valentine's Day?"

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No," she said. "It's sweet and…and sexy."

"Really? Because I feel like the worst boyfriend ever."

"Why?"

"Because I totally forgot about Valentine's Day," he admitted. "Atwater had to remind me what day it was this morning. I tried making reservations at a restaurant, but everyone was booked up already. And then I wanted to cook you something romantic, but the store was all out of everything. And I do mean everything. They didn't even have any of those heart shaped boxes with chocolate in them. And you…you dressed up and everything and you look beautiful and I…"

She looped her arms around his neck, silencing him.

"Adam, I don't need a heart shaped box with chocolate in it or dinner at a fancy restaurant. And I dressed up because I like looking nice. Just being here with you is enough."

"How did I get to be so lucky?"

"I'm just amazing," she said with a smile.

He leaned down and kissed her.

"Yes, you are."

"I have a gift for you," she said.

"Oh really?"

"Mhmm. A Valentine's Day gift."

"What is it?" He asked.

She reached behind her and pulled down the zipper of her dress. She let it pool at her feet, leaving her in a red, lace bra and matching panties. Ruzek looked her up and down, practically drooling. He wanted to devour her alive.

"You like?" She asked.

"This may be the best present anybody's ever gotten me."

She went to jump on him, but he put his hand up, stopping her.

"What is it?" She asked.

"I have something I want to give you for Valentine's Day."

"I thought you said you didn't…"

"This may be the corniest thing I've ever said, but I'm giving you my heart for Valentine's Day and every other day. I love you, Kim."

"I love you, too," she whispered.

He leaned down and kissed her long and hard. He wanted to show her exactly how he felt. He lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Without breaking their kiss, he carried her into the bedroom. It was going to be a Valentine's Day to remember.

Author's Note: In general, I am not a fan of Valentine's Day, but I just couldn't help myself with this chapter. It was a fun one to write! Happy Valentine's Day!


	5. Chapter 5 - Break Up

**Break Up**

"We almost got caught," she exclaimed, standing right in front of the TV that Ruzek was trying to watch.

"But we didn't," Ruzek replied, trying to see past her. There were only two minutes left in the game and it was a close game.

"We have to be more careful."

"Ok, we will."

"Why aren't you more concerned about this? Voight might have seen us!"

"Voight didn't see us."

"How do you know?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Because he would have said something to me."

"You don't know that!"

"Babe, I'm trying to watch the game. Can we talk about this after?"

Burgess whirled around and pressed the power button on the television, turning it off.

"We cannot talk about this later! You can't just pull me into the conference room to make out! Anybody can walk by! If Voight hadn't sneezed on his way down the hall, he would have caught us red-handed!"

"I don't recall you complaining at the time."

"You're infuriating!" Burgess shouted, throwing her hands up in the air.

"What can I say? I missed you. Between our two schedules, we haven't seen each other in days. A man can't go that long without kissing his woman."

"You sound like a caveman."

"If you let me finish the football game, I'll show you just how like a caveman I can be," he said suggestively.

"This isn't working," she said.

"I was kidding."

"No. This isn't working. We're not working."

"Kim, come on."

She shook her head. "Think about it, Adam. Our relationship has been a secret from the minute it started."

"Yeah, because we didn't want Voight to think we were together just so you could get promoted."

"Right, but we never thought about the end game. When does it stop? When do we get to stop hiding?"

"When you get promoted."

"Who knows how long that will take! And even if I did get promoted, Voight doesn't allow couples to work together. There's no way he'd let us both be in intelligence while we're still together."

"Then let's cross that bridge when we come to it."

"How did this relationship start in the first place?"

"What do you mean?"

"I was a home wrecker! I broke up you and your fiancé!"

"You didn't break us up. Wendy and I…we weren't a match. It would never have worked."

"But you didn't even try to make it work with her because I came in the picture. You and Wendy were barely broken up when we slept together! What kind of self-respecting woman jumps into bed with a guy after he just broke up with his fiancé?"

"It's not like we were strangers, Kim. You didn't pick up a guy in a bar and do the walk of shame in the morning. We were friends. More than friends. We both knew we were interested in each other."

"Yeah, maybe. But I should have waited. We should have waited. I was your rebound girl. This is a rebound relationship!"

"That's not true."

"This can't go anywhere! We can't both get what we want professionally while we're together. The only thing we can do is break up before either of us gets hurt or before it completely ruins our careers."

"I think you're making too much of this."

"I'm sorry, Adam, but we're through."

Ruzek stood up and put his hand on her arm. "Kim…"

"Good-bye, Adam," she said, brushing off his arm. She spun on her heels and was out the front door before Ruzek could say another word.

It had been a week without her. That's all Ruzek could think about as Voight was standing in the front of the room, summarizing the case they had just worked on. It was another win for the Intelligence Unit. Ruzek knew he should be paying attention, but he couldn't get Burgess off his mind. He had seen her a few times in the precinct. He had attempted to talk to her only once when they passed each other in the hallway, but she kept walking. They hadn't so much as said 'hello' to each other since their argument in his apartment. Ruzek missed her badly.

With the case over, everyone was headed home. All Ruzek wanted to do was go out with the group and get drunk, but they all seemed to have plans. Dawson was going to see his kids. Olinsky had dinner plans with his wife. Lindsey and Halstead muttered something about having plans even though Ruzek had no idea what they were. Even though he was going to be alone, Ruzek knew he needed a drink.

After Voight officially ended wrapping up the case and Ruzek finished the necessary paperwork, he made his way over to Molly's. It was a Tuesday night and he didn't really know anyone there, but he didn't care. All he wanted was some hard liquor to drown out his thoughts about Burgess.

As he sat at the bar, Ruzek recognized the bartender as Gabby, Dawson's sister. She poured Ruzek his vodka on the rocks with a smile.

"Tough day?" Gabby asked as he downed his first drink.

"Tough week," Ruzek answered.

"That case you were working on? Antonio told me it was a bad one."

"Yeah, it was, but it's not that."

"Woman trouble?" Gabby guessed, pouring him another drink.

"Something like that."

"Maybe I can help."

Ruzek knew his relationship with Burgess was supposed to be a secret. If Antonio found out, it wouldn't be long before Voight found out that they had been together and neither of them needed that. Then again, Ruzek didn't think it could do any harm especially since he had heard from Antonio that Gabby had a secret relationship of her own with her lieutenant for a while.

"Antonio said you were dating your lieutenant," Ruzek said.

"Engaged, actually," Gabby replied.

"Congrats."

"Thanks. But yeah, Matt is my lieutenant."

"How does that work? I mean, your chief is ok with it?"

"We…ah…try to keep our home life and work life separate, but yeah, Boden is ok with it. You and that brunette cop…what's her name? Kate? Kelly?"

"Kim," Ruzek said.

"Right, Kim. Did you two have a fight or something?"

"How did you know we were together?"

Gabby shrugged. "You two were always in here together. I could tell you were trying to hide it, but a woman notices these things. A look here, a touch there. I saw the way you looked at her. You guys may be the cops, but don't count us firefighters out."

He smiled. "Think Antonio knows about me and Kim?"

"Antonio? No. Men don't usually notice those things. So, why the big secret?"

"Trying to protect both our careers. Hers mostly. She was passed up for a promotion because the boss thought she was sleeping with me to climb the ladder."

"Was she?"

"No. She wouldn't do that. And we weren't even sleeping together then."

"So…you two have had this secret relationship going for a while then, huh?"

"We did."

"What happened?"  
"I don't know. She freaked out that our relationship could never go anywhere and that we would never both get what we wanted in our careers if we were together. I mean, it sucked living in secret, but I was willing to do it, you know."

"Because you care about her?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you care about her? What makes her so special?"

"I don't know. She's a good cop and she's beautiful and she's smart."

"You gotta do better than that. What is it about her that you are about? What is it that makes you two work?"

He took a moment to think about what Gabby was asking him. He thought about every moment he and Burgess were together. And he thought about every relationship he had that didn't work and why it didn't work. Burgess was everything that every other woman wasn't, including Wendy.

"She gets me. We get each other. She understands the job. I've never had that before. And we can talk for hours or not talk and it's ok. She's driven and she's her own person. And she makes me want to be better. A better cop, a better man…just…better. And it doesn't hurt that she looks damn sexy in a police uniform."

"So, have you told her all that?"

"No, but she knew."

"Did she? Look, men seem to think that sex and the occasional fancy dinner make a woman know she's loved, but that doesn't do it. You need to tell her. And you need to tell her why. And if you want her, you need to fight for her."

"You ever think of being a therapist? You'd make a good one."  
"If the firefighter thing doesn't work out, I'll consider it," Gabby said with a smile.

With a little liquid courage in his stomach, Ruzek took a taxi right to Burgess' apartment. He didn't care that it was past midnight or that Burgess had been ignoring him all week or that they had technically broken up. Ruzek was going there to fight for her just like Gabby said he had to do.

As soon as the taxi came to a stop outside of Burgess' building, Ruzek threw a twenty dollar bill to the driver and bounded to the front door. He buzzed her apartment and waited. Nothing happened. He buzzed again. Finally, her voice came over the intercom.

"Yes?" Burgess asked.

"It's me, Kim. Let me up."

"It's late, Adam."

"I know. Please, just buzz me up."

"We broke up."

"Give me five minutes. If you want me to go then, I'll go. But please, let me say what I came here to say."

"Adam…"

"Please," he begged.

A few seconds later, the door buzzed. Ruzek pulled it open before Burgess had the chance to change her mind. He bounded up a flight of stairs until he got to her apartment door. It opened before he had the chance to knock. Burgess was standing in the doorway in a T-shirt and pair of sleep shorts. Ruzek wanted nothing else but to pick her up and drag her to the bedroom, but he knew that was going to have to wait.

"What do you want, Adam?"

"Are you going to make me say this in the doorway?"

Burgess stepped out of the way so he could walk in. She closed the door behind her.

"Ok, say it."

"I've been miserable this past week, Kim," he began.

"If this is some big 'we should get back together' speech, I don't want hear it, Adam. I told you, we can't work."

"I don't agree," he jumped in. "Our relationship is complicated, I'll give you that. But you and I, we're meant to be together. You are everything I ever wanted, Kim and everything I didn't even know I wanted. You're smart and beautiful and funny, even though you don't mean to be sometimes. You're an amazing cop who deserves anything and everything you want. You can be neurotic and crazy, but I think it's damn sexy. It is near impossible for me to keep my hands off of you at work and I hate that we have to be a secret, but if that's what it takes for us to be together, then I'm willing to do it. I don't know if we'll ever be able to work Intelligence together, but I do know that I don't care. If I have to give it up to be with you, then I will."

"You'd do that? You would give up Intelligence for me?"

"In a heartbeat."

"Why?"

"Because I love you. I love you and I'm not willing to lose you."

A tear rolled down Burgess' cheek.

"You love me?"

"Yeah, I do. I should have told you that a long time ago."

She wiped the tear from her cheek as she took a few steps closer to Ruzek.

"I'm sorry. We've just both worked so hard to get where we are and I always told myself I would never be that girl who gave up what she wanted for a man. I…freaked out when I thought Voight might find out about us. And you're right, I can be neurotic and crazy sometimes."

"I think it's sexy, remember?"  
She laughed. "I'll keep that in mind next time I start over-thinking things."

He put out his hand. She took it and he pulled her towards him. He cupped her face with his hands, brushing the hair away from her cheeks. He leaned in and kissed her gently.

"Does this mean we're back together?" He asked, pressing his forehead against hers.

"Yeah, I'd say so."

"Good."

He kissed her again, this time with more ferocity. He couldn't get enough of her.

"Can I ask you something?" She asked when they finally parted.

"Anything."

"What made you come here tonight?"

"Gabby Dawson," he answered.  
"Antonio's sister?"

"She was tending bar at Molly's."

"You told her about us?"

He shook his head. "She figured it out all on her own. Woman's intuition or something. She said if you love a woman, you have to let her know. And she told me to fight for you. So that's why I came here. And I sure am glad I did."

"Me too. Thank you, Gabby Dawson."

"Thank you, Gabby," he mimicked before leaning in for another kiss.

"Do you think she'll tell Antonio about us?" Burgess wondered, pulling away from him.

"Are you going to get all neurotic on me again?"

"Depends, are you going to take me to bed if I do?"

"I plan on taking you to bed no matter what."

"Before you do, there's something I need to say."

"What's that?"

"I love you, too."

Ruzek couldn't help but smile. "Well, I'm glad we got that settled."

"Me too."

"Can I take you to bed now?"

"Please do."

She jumped up, wrapping her legs around Adam's waist. He carried her into the bedroom, never letting his lips leave hers.

Author's Note: I wanted to post this chapter before I head out on vacation tomorrow. It'll probably be a little while before I can post again, but hopefully this tides everyone over. Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6 - Danger

**Chapter 6 - Danger**

"Shots fired! Shots fired!" Voight's voice came through the radio. Ruzek and Atwater immediately ducked behind their car. They heard the shots loud and clear. The team was closing in on a suspected domestic terrorist who had already rigged and set off a bomb in an office building. They had him pinned down inside his apartment building. It was far from an ideal situation. There were people inside their apartments and the man had a woman he was holding hostage with a gun to her head. The worst part was he was wearing a bomb that could easily take down the building. If he dropped the detonator he was holding, it would be game over for everyone inside the apartment building.

Ruzek and Atwater waited behind the car until the gunfire was over. They peeked their head over the hood of the car. They were in front of the building, able to see the perpetrator through the glass doors that led into the building. He was spewing shots around aimlessly. The woman he had hostage was crouched on the floor, her hands covering her ears. Ruzek could see her face. She was terrified.

"We gotta get her out of there," Ruzek said.

"How do you propose we do that?" Atwater countered.

Ruzek looked around. The entire building was surrounded by police and cop cars. It seemed unfair that with half of the entire Chicago police force on scene, there was really nothing that could be done. Voight was with Dawson and Olinsky at the back of the building, trying to find a way in. Lindsey and Halstead were working with the negotiator to try to talk the man down.

"We're going in," Ruzek decided.

"Are you crazy?"

"Maybe."

Ruzek put his gun down on the sidewalk. With his hands in the air, Ruzek popped out from behind the car and began walking towards the doors.

Burgess was watching the scene play out on the TV in the locker room at the precinct. She had just gotten off shift when the news came in that there was a hostage situation and a man with a bomb. Within minutes, the media had arrived and was taking live coverage of the scene. Burgess could see the dozens of cop cars surrounding the building. The commentator was droning on about the perpetrator inside, but Burgess wasn't paying attention. She kept scanning the TV screen, hoping to find a glimpse of Ruzek. She knew they were there. She knew it was their case.

Burgess quickly threw her protective vest back on and raced to the front desk. Sergeant Platt was behind the desk, her eyes focused on the small TV behind her desk. She was watching the news coverage of the same event.

"Give me a car," Burgess said.

Platt turned around, glaring at Burgess. She was not used to being given commands. She was the one who told others what to do.

"You're off duty, Burgess," she replied.

"Sarg, they need all the help they can get out there. Give me a car."

"There are enough officers there, Burgess. You're off duty. Besides, your partner already went home."

"I don't care. Send me alone."

"What do you honestly think you can do that they can't?"

"Sarg, please!"

"Go home, Burgess."

"But, Sarg…"

"I'm not going to say it again. You are not going to that scene. Understood?"

Burgess sighed. There was no use arguing with Platt. "Yes, Sarg."

She glanced up at the television. She finally spotted Ruzek. The trouble was, he was walking towards the building with the man with the bomb in it with his hands up. Platt looked over at Burgess.

"Don't even think about it," Platt said. "You're not going over there, Burgess."

"Sarg…"

"Go home or stay here, but you are _not _going to that scene. Do you hear me, Burgess?"

Burgess nodded. She could feel the tears coming, but she knew she couldn't show them. She ran into the locker room, feeling useless and helpless. Ruzek was out there, putting himself in danger, and she was stuck in the damn locker room. It wasn't fair. Knowing she would never be able to live with herself if she didn't try, she kept her vest on and snuck out of the locker room.

In her own car, Burgess drove to the scene. She was about three miles away when she came across a roadblock. A patrolman stopped her and ordered her to back up and turn around. She didn't recognize him.

"I'm a cop," she said. "They called me in."

"No one else is getting inside the radius," the officer stated.

"You don't understand. I have to be in there."

"Turn your car, ma'am."

"Don't ma'am me!" She shouted. "I am a Chicago police officer!"

"I have the authority to arrest anyone who is resisting."

"Fine!" Burgess yelled before storming back to her car.

She tried four others streets to get to the scene, but she was blocked at every one. She even tried parking her car and walking in, but she was caught. Nobody seemed to care that she was a police officer.

With no idea what was going on, Burgess sat in her car and stared at her phone. She kept waiting for a message from Ruzek. She was afraid to text or call him. She didn't know what kind of scenario he was in. The ring or buzz of a cell phone could possibly end his life. Frustrated and tired, Burgess decided to go to the one place where she felt safe.

It was after three in the morning when Ruzek trudged into his apartment. All he wanted was to take a shower, grab a beer, and hear Burgess' voice. He had wanted to call her as soon as the whole thing was over. The trouble was, he was never left alone long enough to make that happen. He was successful in trading himself for the hostage. It took another few hours for the Intelligence to find their way in without the man knowing. Once the bomb was dismantled and the man was taken into custody, the entire team had to be debriefed. Voight then spent a good amount of time reaming Ruzek out for his stupid choice, but then complimenting him on a job well done. By the time he got in his car to go home, Ruzek realized he had lost his cell phone somewhere. He couldn't call Burgess even if he wanted to.

After grabbing a beer from the fridge, Ruzek went to grab the phone from the counter when he noticed a very familiar-looking bullet proof vest. Ruzek looked at it and smiled. He crept into his bedroom and found Burgess curled up on his bed. She was wearing one of his T-shirts and a pair of his sweat pants. She was clutching his pillow. He could see a mound of dirty tissues on the nightstand and he saw the tear stains on her cheeks. He walked over to the bed and leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. He climbed into the bed beside her, lying down so their faces were almost touching. He ran his hand lightly along her arm. Her eyes popped open immediately.

"Hey," he said.

She shot up into a sitting position. "You're alive!" She exclaimed, bringing her hand to his face as if she needed to touch him to know he was really there. He sat up across from her and she threw her arms around his neck, needing to feel him. He wrapped his arms around her waist as she tucked her chin under his head.

"It's ok, I'm ok."

He could feel her tears wetting his t-shirt. He had never seen her like that before. She was always so strong in front of him. It was rare to see her broken down. She eventually pulled from him. He expected to see worry or sadness in her eyes. What he actually saw was anger.

"What were you thinking?" She shouted.

"What?"

"You traded places with a hostage?!"

"Babe, I'm fine," he tried to assure her.

"That is not the point! You know the rules! You don't trade places with a hostage!"

"Since when did we ever follow the rules?" He asked with a slight smirk.

"This isn't funny, Adam!" She yelled, pounding her fist against his chest. "You could have died!"

"But I didn't because I trust my team."

"When I watched you walk in that building on TV, I thought…"

She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. More tears fell down her cheeks.

"Hey, hey, I'm ok," he assured her, stroking her hair.

"You can't do that to me."

"I'm sorry. I wanted to call you as soon as I could, but Voight was on my ass and…"

"I love you," she stated. She gasped as if she were surprised she said those words. He didn't know what to say. "If I lost you…"

"Don't say that. I'm not going anywhere."

"You don't know that. You put yourself in danger every day."

"So do you. You don't think I worry about your safety? It would kill me if something happened to you. The thought of losing you…" He paused. "I love you, too."

Another tear leaked from the corner of her eye. He wiped it away with his thumb.

"You do?" She asked.

"Yeah, I do. I love you."

"Good."

When their lips met, he could taste her tears. He climbed on top of her, pressing her back against the bed. As he reached for the bottom of his T-shirt, she put her hand against his chest, stopping him.

"What is it?" He asked.

"You stink," she said with a smile.

They both burst into laughter.

"Ok, I'll be right back."

Ruzek gave her one more quick kiss before climbing out of bed. In record time, he had hopped in the shower, toweled off, and pulled on a pair of boxer shorts. By the time he returned to the bedroom, she had fallen asleep. He realized she had an equally taxing day as he had. He could only imagine if the roles had been reversed. If he thought she was in danger, he would have gone out of his mind.

Ruzek got into bed. He put his arms around and she immediately molded herself against his body. He closed his eyes and fell asleep, thinking only of the woman he loved.

Author's Note: I haven't seen this week's episode (which, according to the previews looks like Burgess and Roman get kidnapped), but this would be my version of how Burzek would react if one of them were in danger. I just love the angsty moments! Thank you for reading!


	7. Chapter 7 - Getaway

**Chapter 7 - Getaway**

"Let's go away this weekend," Ruzek suggested.

Burgess put the piece of toast she had been eating back on her plate while Ruzek grabbed the orange juice from the refrigerator. He poured two glasses.

"Don't joke," she said after she swallowed the toast.

"I'm not joking."

"And where would we go?" She asked.

Ruzek passed her a glass of juice. He snuck the piece of toast off her plate and took a large bite. She pretended to be angry, but she wasn't. It had become their routine in the morning. She would make something for breakfast and he would eat half of it.

"Somewhere warm. Aren't you tired of the cold and snow?"

"Of course I am, isn't everybody?"

"Alright, so let's escape somewhere," he said. "It will be our first weekend getaway as a couple."

"That sounds great, but logistically, it won't work, Adam."

"Why not? We both have the weekend off. We could leave right after shift tonight. And, I bet if you sweet talked Platt, you could get Monday off. We could fly back Monday night. That would give us like 72 hours."

"Adam…"

"I'll plan everything. I'll book the flights and get a hotel."

"We don't even have a destination," she said, running through the logistics in her head. Could they possibly just pick up and go away?

"I'll do that, too," he said. "It'll be somewhere warm. Somewhere with warm sand and clear water. And bikinis."

"Bikinis?"

"On you, of course. I only have eyes for you."

"Nice save."

"Come on, Kim. All you'll have to do is pack a bag of skimpy clothes and go away with me."

She sighed. "How can I resist that?"

"Alright it's settled then. I'll text you later with the details. Once I figure them out, of course." He downed the rest of his juice.

"I have to go," she said. "Roman will be waiting for me."

"Alright, I'll text you later and I'll see you tonight."

"Have a good day. Be safe."

"You too," he said.

They both leaned across the counter and kissed quickly. Burgess grabbed her coat, hat, and gloves, bundling herself up.

"One more thing," she said as she opened the door. "I don't own a bikini."

"Then I guess I'll have to find a nude beach."

"You're gross."

"I'll only have eyes for you, babe."

She rolled her eyes and slammed the door behind her.

Burgess stood out on the balcony, overlooking the ocean in front of her. The sun was just beginning to rise, giving the sky an orangey glow. She looked back at the bed behind her. Ruzek was still sound asleep. He was missing the gorgeous sunrise. Then again, she couldn't blame him. They had only gotten to the hotel a few hours earlier. They both fell asleep almost as soon as they walked in the door. When Burgess woke up to use the bathroom, though, she couldn't help but notice the sun beginning to peak through the balcony doors. Although she was still tired, she couldn't help but throw the doors open and watch the sun rise over the ocean.

"Come back to bed," Ruzek mumbled.

Burgess looked over her shoulder. Ruzek had rolled over so he was facing her. His eyes were closed, but his arm was draped over her side of the bed where she should have been.

"You're missing an amazing sunset," Burgess said, turning back towards the water.

"There will be others."

"Not like this."

"Come back to bed," he whined.

Burgess smiled, but didn't move. After a minute, she listened as Ruzek got out of bed. In only his boxers, he walked up behind her. He put his arms around her and leaned his chin on her shoulder.

"I told you it was worth it," she said.

"You're the only thing worth getting out of bed for." He nuzzled her neck and began pulling up her oversized t-shirt. She was wearing a camisole underneath and a pair of pajama pants. "Why are you wearing so many clothes?"

"I had ten minutes to pack. And when we left Chicago, it was ten degrees."

"Well, it's not ten degrees now," he said, pulling her shirt over her head.  
"No, but it is perfect beach weather."

She managed to get out of his grasp and walked over to where they dropped their suitcases ten feet from the door. She began rummaging through her messy suitcase. She hadn't been lying when she said she had packed in ten minutes. She had gotten out of work at 5:30 and their flight left at 7:00. They barely made the flight.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Finding my bathing suit."

"Now? We got like three hours of sleep."

"You're the one who wanted to go someplace where we could enjoy the warm sand and clear water. That's exactly what I'm going to do."

Burgess grabbed her bathing suit, cover-up dress, and toiletry bag and went into the bathroom.

"Does that mean you have a bikini?" He asked as she began to close the door.

"You'll have to see," she said before closing the door.

Although he was tempted to see what she would come out of the bathroom wearing, he was also exhausted.

"I'm going back to bed," he mumbled.

A few hours later, Burgess was sitting out in the warm sun on a lounge chair on the beach. As the temperature rose, she could feel her body warming up. She put the magazine she was reading down and stood up. She slipped off her bathing suit coverup, leaving her in a bright blue bikini. She grabbed a bottle of sunscreen she had brought with her and squeezed some onto her hand. She started with her face and then worked the lotion over her arms, chest, and stomach.

"Need some help?" A low, male voice said from beside her.

Burgess turned around, expecting to see Ruzek standing behind her. It wasn't him. The first thing she noticed about the stranger was that he was incredibly good looking. He had short, sandy colored hair and a clean-shaven, angular face. He had piercing blue eyes and a body that suggested he spent a significant amount of time in the gym. His swim trunks were resting low on his hips.

"I…ah…I'm ok, thank you," she stuttered.

"Don't want to burn," the man replied.

"Really, I…"

"I'm Mike," he said, interrupting her.

"Kim."

"Nice to meet you." He took the sunscreen from Burgess' hand. "Are you here on vacation?"

"Yeah. Just got in late last night."

"Well, welcome to paradise."

He squirted the lotion onto his hand and began to rub the sunscreen over her shoulders. Burgess attempted to step away, but as his hand slid under her bikini strap, he was practically holding her hostage.

"Look, I'm here with my…"

"Boyfriend," Ruzek filled in as he walked up behind Burgess. She turned around and saw fire in Ruzek's eyes. He took the bottle of sunscreen from Mike's hands.

"Sorry, man," Mike said. "She was alone."

"Yeah, well she's not anymore," Ruzek countered.

Ruzek put his arm around Burgess' waist, clearing giving the signal that she was off limits.

"Enjoy your vacation," Mike said before turning and walking away. They waited until he was beyond earshot before Ruzek stepped away from her.

"I'm sorry," Burgess said. "I tried to tell him to keep his hands to himself, but…"

"Yeah, it looks like you were really trying."

"Adam, nothing happened and nothing was going to," Burgess explained.

"That's not what it looked like from down the beach."

She sighed. "I don't want to fight. We only have two days here. Let's make the best of it." She stepped towards him and looped her arms around his neck. "Besides, I bought this on my lunch yesterday and wore this just for you."

She stepped back, modeling the bikini for him.

"Just answer one question for me."

"What's that?"

"Was Roman with you when you picked that out? You know, did you put on a show for him?" He asked with a smirk. "Model for him? Did he pick the color?"

She slapped him playfully on his naked chest.

"Shut up," she whispered before kissing him hard and fast.

"We could go back to the room," he suggested, running his hand through her hair.

"We didn't come to paradise to stay in the room. Why don't we stay out here a little while and enjoy the sunshine? Then I promise we can go back to the room and I will make it well worth your while."

"I like the sound of that."

Burgess took Ruzek's hand and she sat down at the edge of the lounge chair. He straddled the chair and sat all the way back. Burgess scooted back. He took the sunscreen and began massaging it into her skin.

"Hope I can do as good a job as Mike," Ruzek commented.

Burgess looked back over her shoulder at him.

"I told you, nothing happened and nothing was going to happen. But it is kind of cute that you're jealous."

"I'm not jealous."

"You sound jealous."

"I'm not jealous," he repeated.

"Can we stop arguing about this?"

"You're the one arguing."

Burgess stood up. "I'm going for a swim." She walked off towards the water, purposefully swaying her hips. She stopped and looked back. "You coming?"

The sun was just beginning to set when Burgess woke up from her nap. Her eyelids fluttered open. Her head was resting on Adam's bare chest. He had his arm wrapped around her. His eyes were still closed. She snuggled closer to him, breathing him in. They had had a full day. They spent the morning lounging around on the beach and swimming in the crystal clear waters. They later retreated to their hotel room where they had spent hours in bed. Eventually they both fell asleep. It was Burgess' grumbling stomach that woke her up. She hadn't eaten a real meal since the airport. Burgess thought about trying to find a room service menu, but she was just too content wrapped in his arms. To wake him up, Burgess began to trace small circles on Ruzek's chest. She watched his face as a smile came to his lips.

"Hey," she whispered.

"Can't get enough of me, can you?" He asked lazily.

"Actually, I was hoping we could get some dinner."

"You're really thinking about food right now?"

"Well, we've done everything else today."

He rolled them so he was on top of her.

"Everything?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We can have more sex after we find food."

"Promise?"

"Promise," she responded.

She pressed her lips against his, showing him that she was planning on making good on her promise.

"I already made reservations for seven at a restaurant down the beach. It's called Latitudes. All the reviews online say it has good food and even better drinks."

"Sounds perfect."

Burgess glanced over at the clock next to the bed. It was almost six. She climbed off the bed.

"What are you doing? We still have an hour."

She began rummaging through her suitcase, looking for the black and white dress she had thrown in at the last minute before they left Chicago.

"I smell like the beach. I need to shower, put on makeup, find my dress." She pulled the dress out of the suitcase, noticing how wrinkled it had become. "And iron my dress."

"You'll look beautiful in whatever you wear."

"Well thanks, but how often do we get to go out to a fancy restaurant on the beach? I'd like to look nice."

She continued to look through her suitcase, trying to find her makeup case and her shoes. She eventually found one high heeled shoe. She just hoped she remembered to pack the other one.

"As long as you're not doing it for Mike," he mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Are you really bringing that guy up again?"

"He had his hands all over you, Kim."  
She stood up and put her hands on her hips. "He was putting sunscreen on my shoulders, Adam."

"You can't be that naïve to think that's all he wanted."

"I know that's not all he wanted. I'm not stupid. I have had guys hit on my before."

"That's comforting."

"Oh please. Like women don't drool all over you every time you walk into Molly's. I don't get jealous every time one of them winks at you."

"There's a difference between winking across a bar and one of them putting their hands all over me."

"His hands weren't all over me, Adam."

"Would you have stopped him? If I hadn't come down the beach or would you have gotten a whole body massage?"

"Of course I would have stopped him!"

"Really? Because that's not what it looked like to me."

"This is ridiculous that we're still arguing about this. I'm sorry that I didn't stop him right off the bat. I'm sorry that you think I did something wrong, but nothing happened. And you know I wouldn't let anything happen."

"So you said."

She threw her hands up in the air. "I don't know what you want from me. I'm here with you, Adam. I want to be here with you. There's nobody else I want. But if you don't believe me or if you can't accept that, then fine."

She gathered her dress, shoes, and makeup case in her arms and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

It was seven o'clock when Ruzek finally saw Burgess again. He was sitting at the bar of the crowded restaurant he had told her about. She walked in, dressed in a flirty, strapless, tea-length black and white dress. Complete with her high-heels and her hair pinned up, away from her face, she looked amazing. She was looking around the restaurant, hopefully looking for him. Ruzek didn't like the way they had left things. He didn't know why he had been such an ass. He knew in his heart that what happened between Burgess and the stranger on the beach was completely innocent. He knew she wouldn't do anything to hurt their relationship. Now he just had to make it right so they could enjoy what was left of their weekend getaway.

Ruzek finished off his drink. Burgess had gone to the other end of the bar, still not having seen him. As he stood up to walk over to her, he noticed a familiar looking man approach her first. It was Mike, the same man from the beach. Thankfully this time he had more clothes on. Ruzek stopped, just far enough that Burzek wouldn't see him, but close enough for him to hear what was going on. He wanted to watch what was about to unfold in front of him.

"It's Kim, right?" Mike asked, standing right beside the stool she was sitting on.

"Yeah," she answered politely before scanning the restaurant once more for any sign of Ruzek. She was beginning to think that maybe he wouldn't come after their fight.

"Mike," he reminded her.

"Right."

"Let me buy you a drink."

"No thank you."

"Come on. Just one drink."

"I'm waiting for my boyfriend."

"Who obviously is standing you up. That's twice now he's left alone. He doesn't sound like a very attentive boyfriend. I'm going to buy you a drink."

"No you're not."

Burgess slid off the stool and began walking for the door. Mike grabbed her elbow. As Ruzek was about to step up, and give Mike a piece of his mind, Burgess stomped hard on Mike's foot with her high heel. Mike yelped as she grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. Ruzek knew the move well. It was an easy way to render a subject immobile. He knew with one little twist, the man's wrist would break. Ruzek smiled.

"Hey, let go of me!" Mike exclaimed.

"I told you to leave me alone on the beach. And I told you I don't want a drink. If you ever touch me again, I will break your nose so that handsome face of yours isn't so handsome anymore."

"You think I'm handsome?" He said with a snide smirk.

Burgess twisted his hand just a little more. He groaned.

"Alright, alright," he said. "Hands off. Got it."

"Good. Now get out of here."

Burgess let him go. He walked out like a dog with his tail between his legs. A few people sitting at the bar began to clap. Ruzek was one of them. Burgess took a little bow. When she looked up she saw Ruzek standing in front of her.

"That was quite a show," he said.

"Well, someone had to teach him a lesson."

"I didn't know if you'd come."

"I didn't know if you would," she replied.

"You look amazing."

"I changed at the pool house. Thankfully they had an iron."

"I'm sorry about earlier," he apologized. "I was being a jerk."

"No. I shouldn't have let him touch me."

"You're beautiful and sexy. I don't know what straight man would be able to keep his hands off of you." He leaned in to whisper in her ear. "Especially in that bikini."

She smiled. "I'm glad you liked it. But Mike's not the first guy who has unwontedly flirted with me, Adam, and he won't be the last."

"I know," he said, putting his hands on her waist.

"I need to know that you won't fly off the handle every time this happens."

"I won't."

"Good because I would hate for this to ruin our relationship just when it started getting really good."

"Oh? What does that mean?"

She shrugged. "We've passed through that 'new relationship' phase. We're past the honeymoon period. We had our first big fight. This is when we figure out if this is going to last. And I think it is, Adam because I love you." He smiled a big, toothy grin. "What? Why are you smiling like that?"

"Because I was going to come over here and say the very same thing."

This time it was she who smiled. "Then say it."

"I love you," he stated.

He leaned in and kissed her.

"Can we please have something to eat now?" She begged when they finally parted.

"Only you can think of food at a time like this." Ruzek took her hand and walked over to the hostess' station. "We have reservation for two under Ruzek."

The hostess checked her computer. "Yes, right this way please."

"Thank you," Ruzek said.

The hostess grabbed two menus and began walking through the restaurant. Hand in hand, Ruzek and Burgess followed.

"Are you two celebrating something special tonight?" The woman asked.

Ruzek looked over at Burgess.

"Yes," he said as they arrived at their table. "We're celebrating being in love."

Burgess smiled as he leaned in and kissed her.

Author's Note: After my getaway to Florida to escape the ridiculous amount of snow we've gotten, I was inspired to write a getaway story. Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading!


	8. Chapter 8 - Argument

**Chapter 8 - Argument**

It was just before dawn when Burgess woke up needing to pee. That's what she got for drinking wine so late at night. She glanced over at Ruzek who was passed out in the bed beside her. She had to move his arm from around her waist to get up. He had her pinned down. As she lifted his arm, he stirred. She knew, though, that he wouldn't wake up. After the amount of beers he had, she knew it would probably take an earthquake to wake him.

Once she freed herself from the weight of his arm, Burgess peeled the sheet and blankets off of her. She shivered as the cold air hit her mostly naked body. She was only wearing a pair of panties. She scooped Ruzek's blue t-shirt off the floor and pulled it on. As she took another step in the dark, she tripped on something and began to stumble. She put her hands out in front of her to stop her fall. Luckily, she managed to grab hold to the edge of Ruzek's bureau before she went head first into the wall.

"What the hell," she muttered. She looked back to see what she possibly could have tripped over. It was a pair of Ruzek's shoes. Cursing under her breath, she righted herself. She bent down to look at her throbbing toe. Although she couldn't see much in the dark, she could at least see that it was neither bleeding nor broken.

Trying to keep her weight off her aching big toe, Burgess stumbled into the bathroom. She didn't bother to turn on the light. Instead, she pulled down her panties and sat down on the toilet in the dark. She expected to feel the toilet seat beneath her. What she felt was her butt falling into the toilet and sloshing into the water.

"Really?" She exclaimed, quickly pulling herself out of the water. She flicked the bathroom light on and saw that the toilet seat was up. She had literally fallen in the toilet. "Damn it."

Burgess grabbed a towel and began to dry her wet butt. After putting the toilet seat down, she sat and relieved herself. She could see Ruzek roll over in bed. She had half a mind to shake him awake and curse him out for not only leaving his shoes out in the middle of the room, but also for leaving the toilet seat up, but she decided against it.

After she finished her business, Burgess went back into the bedroom. In her absence, Ruzek had stolen her pillow. She sat on the edge of the bed and grabbed her cell phone. It was 5:47. Knowing her alarm was set for 6:30 anyway, Burgess decided to just stay awake and use her time to go for a run. She pulled on a pair of running pants, a T-Shirt, and a sports bra from the drawer in the bureau that Ruzek had emptied out for her. Although they weren't officially living together, it made it easier for her to have some things at his place. She quickly texted him that she was going out for a quick run in case he woke up and was worried about where she went and then she was off.

Forty minutes later, Burgess returned to Ruzek's apartment covered in sweat. She could hear the shower running so she knew he was awake. She thought for a moment about joining him in the shower, but knew that would make them both late for work. Instead, she went into the kitchen in search of a cold drink and some sustenance. Her stomach was growling. She searched the cupboards, but found nothing but a can of soup, a box of crackers that was three months expired, and a can of instant coffee. Next, she searched the refrigerator. There was a six pack of beer, ketchup, and one lone apple that looked well past its prime. Burgess sighed. She had begged Ruzek to go grocery shopping. She had even offered to pick up food for them, but he said he would take care of it. Clearly, he hadn't.

Ruzek appeared in the kitchen as Burgess took down the box of expired crackers. She shoved one in her mouth. They were stale, but she knew they wouldn't kill her.

"I think those are expired," Ruzek said.

Burgess quickly looked him up and down. He had nothing but a towel around his waist. His skin was still glistening with drops of water. Burgess was tempted to jump him in the middle of the kitchen, but she knew she had to refrain. Not only did they not have time, but she was a little angry with him.

"You have nothing else to eat," Burgess replied.

"Yeah, sorry about that. How was your run?"

"Fine," she answered. "I'm going to take a shower."

"You could have joined me."

"Get dressed, Adam. You have to go in before me. We can't show up to work at the same time. It's too suspicious."

"I don't think anyone's paying attention," he said.

Burgess walked past him, taking the box of crackers with her. Ruzek playfully slapped her on the ass. She squealed as she made her way into the bathroom. Once in the bathroom, she quickly stripped off her sweaty clothes and turned the shower on. It didn't take long before the water was warm. Before she got in the shower, she saw Ruzek enter the bedroom. He took a quick glance at her naked body and smiled.

"I could join you," he offered.

"You already took a shower," she reminded him.

"You can never be too clean."

"Get dressed!" She commanded.

Burgess stepped under the spray, closing the shower curtain. She reached for the bottle of shampoo and attempted to squeeze some into her hand. When none came out, she shook the bottle and squeezed again. Nothing happened yet again. Angrily, she unscrewed the top and looked inside the bottle. There was literally nothing left.

"Are you kidding me?" She said out loud.

Deciding that rinsing off was the best she could do, Burgess quickly finished up and turned off the water. She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself. As she walked out of the bathroom and into the bedroom, her foot caught on something on the floor. It was Ruzek's towel. She flailed before finally falling to the ground. She hit her knee hard on the wood floor. Burgess felt her blood boiling. She had had enough.

Burgess got to her feet and grabbed Ruzek's towel in her hand. She stormed off into the kitchen where Ruzek was making himself a coffee.

"You're kidding me, right?" She exclaimed.

"What?"

"First, it's your shoes. Then the toilet seat is up and I fall in the toilet!"

"You fell in the toilet?" He asked with a laugh.

"It's not funny!"

"You're right, it's not funny. I'm sorry," he said, unable to wipe the smile completely off his face.

"How many times have I asked you to put the seat down?"

"I'm sorry, I just don't think about it," he said.

"Of course you don't! Because you've never fallen in the toilet in the middle of the night just because you expect the toilet seat to be there and then it's not!"

"I'll try harder to remember."  
"It's not just the toilet seat!" She yelled.

"Right, the shoes," he said, even though he had no idea what she was talking about. "What's wrong with the shoes?"

She threw her hands up in the air in frustration. "I've also asked you a million times not to leave your shoes in the middle of the walkway! That was another unpleasant surprise early this morning."

"I'm sorry. Maybe we can settle this argument in bed?" He suggested, walking towards her. Just as she had done earlier when he was in a towel, he eyed her up and down.

"Stop checking me out!"

"Hard not to when one tug on that towel and you'd be naked," he said.

She backed away from him. She was not going to let him sweet talk her into bed so that she would forget that she was angry.

"If I recall, I also asked you to buy some groceries so we wouldn't have to eat takeout for every breakfast, lunch, and dinner."

"I didn't have time"

"We could have gone to the grocery store before going to Molly's last night!"

"Alright, I forgot," he admitted.

"How about the shampoo? Did you forget to mention that you used the last of the shampoo? What am I supposed to do with my hair today without shampoo?"

"Don't you just wear it in a ponytail anyway?"

"It would be nice to at least have a clean ponytail! And then there's this!" She shouted, holding up his towel. "Is it that hard to hang up your towel when you're done with it instead of just throwing it on the floor?"

"Babe…"

"No, don't babe me! You think you can get out of everything by using your charm and sexiness, but you can't! We may not be living together, Adam, but I'm here all the time! And if I'm going to be here, you have to start making some changes!"

"Ok."

"You can't leave stuff on the floor."

"Ok."

"And if we run out of something, we have to replace," she continued ranting. "That includes food and shampoo."

"Ok."

"And for the love of God, put the damn toilet seat down!"

"Is that all?"

"For now."

"Well, there are some things that I need from you, then."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh? Like what?"

"You can't use my razor to shave your legs. It dulls the blade."

"That happened one time!" She exclaimed.

"Alright, well you can't leave your perfume bottle on the bathroom sink."

"Why not? I thought you liked the smell of my perfume."

"I do, but I knocked it over once and I got it on my hands and I smelled like a girl all day."

"Alright, fine. I'll keep it in the bathroom cabinet."

"And you can't keep your hair elastics everywhere. I found one mixed in with the case files I had on the living room table. Luckily I saw it at the office before anyone else did. Don't know how I was going to explain that one when everyone thinks I'm single."

"Well, if I'm going to pick up my hair elastics, you need to pick up your gum wrappers."

"I always throw those away," he insisted.

"No you don't! I find them everywhere!"

"At least I don't leave hair in the shower drain!"

"Oh, so my hair's a problem? You leave hair in the bathroom sink after shaving every day!" She yelled.

"I always clean that out!" He retorted.

"No you don't! You think you do, but you don't!"

"Well you need to learn how to replace a toilet paper roll!"

"Maybe I'd be able to replace it if we had toilet paper to replace it with!" She exclaimed.

"Fine! I'll buy toilet paper!"

"And another thing," she continued. "You need to…"

"I love you!" He shouted.

She was taken aback. She certainly hadn't expected that.

"I…you…that…" she stuttered. She could feel the anger leaving her body. "That's not fair."

"Sorry, but it's true," he said.

"You can't just end an argument by saying you…you…"

"I love you."

"Yes, by saying that."

"I think I just did end an argument by saying that."

"It's not fair," she repeated.

"It worked, didn't it? Look, I know we have things we have to work out. I know I have to remember to pick up my shoes and put the toilet seat down and everything else, but I also know that I love you."

"But…" She couldn't think of anything else to say. "I…I love you, too."

He smiled. "Even when I leave the seat up?"

"Even then. But I'm still angry with you."

Ruzek took two long strides towards her and crashed his lips to hers. Just as he predicted, with one tug, the towel pooled at her feet. He grabbed her hand and pulled her into the bedroom, never breaking their kiss.

Author's Note: I loved writing this chapter because I love writing dialogue and I do love writing arguments. I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading!


	9. Chapter 9 - Date Night

**Chapter 9 - Date Night**

As Burgess stepped out of the shower, she couldn't help but sigh. Another Saturday night was going by and she had no plans. She was never the type of person who needed to be entertained all the time. She was generally happy spending quiet evenings at home, but it was the third Saturday night in a row that she was stuck at home alone. She wrapped a towel around her body and wiped the condensation off the mirror. She stared at her reflection, but couldn't stop thinking about Ruzek. She knew it wasn't his fault. He was working, just like he had been working the previous three Saturdays. The worst part was, she knew even if he wasn't working, there wasn't much they could do together outside of the apartment. Sure, they could go to Molly's with the rest of the police and fire departments, but they always had to pretend that they were just friends. They were afraid even to go to other bars and restaurants in the area for fear of running into someone they knew. That was the worst part of keeping their relationship a secret. The only place they could act like a couple was in the privacy of their own homes. Keeping the secret from Voight was making her miserable.

Sighing again, Burgess began drying herself off. She wrapped the towel around her hair and grabbed a robe. After making her way into the kitchen, she grabbed a beer, popped the top off, and took a long swig. She glanced at the TV, wondering if there was anything good on. Usually Saturday nights were full of documentaries and movies for single women that often had some kind of Prince Charming character. As far as Burgess was concerned, she had found as close to Prince Charming as she was going to get. The only problem, of course, was that he was a big fat secret. Wondering if the book she had just started the weekend before was going to be any better than the TV, Burgess walked into her bedroom. She flopped down on the bed and noticed her cell phone on the table next to the bed. She touched the screen just to see if she had missed any calls. To her surprise, there was a text message from Ruzek.

'Pick you up at seven. Wear something nice.'

"What the hell does that mean?" She asked out loud. He had never texted her anything like that before. Usually he stuck to just saying hello since they barely had time to say hi to each other some days. Burgess immediately texted back.

'What's going on?'

A minute passed before her phone buzzed.

'It's a surprise.' Another ten seconds later and a second message appear. 'Just do it. Trust me.'

Burgess glanced at the clock on her phone. It was 6:07. She had no idea what Ruzek had in mind, but she didn't care. She was just glad she was going to get out of the apartment and the idea of him planning a surprise for her made her smile. After turning on her favorite Pandora station, she scrambled to her closet, trying to decide what she was going to wear.

At exactly 7:00, there was a knock on Burgess' door. She looked herself over in the full-length mirror in her bathroom one more time before she walked to the door. When she opened the door, she saw Ruzek standing in the hallway in a classic, black suit and tie with a dozen red roses in his hand. She had never seen him so dressed up and she liked it.

"Damn Burgess, you clean up nice," he complimented, looking her up and down. She was wearing a black, halter-top dress that fell just above her knees. She had traded her usual black sneakers in for a pair of red, strappy high-heels. Her hair was down, framing her face. She had taken the time to create a smoky eye and her lips were dark red.

"You don't look so bad yourself."

"These are for you."

He handed her the roses. She brought them to her nose and sniffed them.

"Thank you, they're beautiful."

"Not as beautiful as you."

She couldn't help but blush. She knew that Ruzek was attracted to her. That's part of the reason they landed in bed in the first place. But he had never actually told her he thought she was beautiful. She made a mental note to get dressed up more often.

"Come on in," she said.

"Thanks."

She took the flowers in the kitchen and got a vase. After filling it with water, she put the flowers in and put them in the middle of the table. When she turned around, she saw Ruzek leaning against the counter, staring at her.

"Enjoying the view?" She questioned.

"You have no idea."

"So are you going to stand there drooling over me all night or are you going to tell me what we're doing?"

"Nope," he answered.

"Nope…what?"

"I'm not going to stop drooling over you because you're gorgeous. And I'm not going to tell you what we're going to do. I'm going to show you."

"You know we can't be seen by anybody we know. If someone from the department recognizes us…"

"I've got it covered, Burgess," he assured her.

"Ok. Should I be scared?" She asked with a smile on her face.

"Don't you trust me?" He responded, acting innocent.

"Completely."

"Then let's go."

He put out his hand. She slipped her hand into his and they began to walk out together. Although they had never actually held hands before, it felt so normal. Burgess definitely could get used to it.

More than three hours later, Burgess and Ruzek were walking hand in hand along the shore of Lake Michigan. They had a romantic dinner at the Signature Room at the 95th, high above the streets of Chicago. The views were amazing, but Ruzek had eyes only for Burgess. He hadn't been able to stop looking at her. They drank expensive wine, ate an amazing meal, and talked about everything from their childhood memories to their colleagues at the department. It was after sharing some chocolate crème brulee for dessert that Ruzek told her their night wasn't over.

The lake was beautiful in the moonlight. It was the perfect setting for a romantic walk. Ruzek led her over to a bench looking out over the lake. Thankful to give her feet a rest, since she wasn't used to walking in heels, Burgess sat beside him. He never let go of her hand.

"Are you cold?" He asked, noticing her shiver.

"A little."

Ruzek immediately pulled off his suit coat and wrapped it around her shoulders.

"Thank you," she said. "For everything."

"You're welcome."

"I mean it, Adam. This was…amazing."

"You're amazing," he replied. "I know it's been tough with keeping this a secret. It's bad not enough not being able to touch you or kiss you at work. It sucks that much more to not be able to do it at Molly's or in front of any of our friends."

"I'm sorry," she said.

"For what?"

"It's my fault. I'm the reason we have to be a secret."

"It's not your fault. I get it. It's not fair that Voight thinks you're just trying to…"

"Sleep my way to the top?" She filled in. "I wouldn't do that. I want you to know that."

"I know. I just hate not being able to kiss you there. Do you know how hard it is for me to keep my hands off of you?"

She sighed. "I know. But if Voight were to find out…"

"I know. I still hate it."

"Me too. But you still didn't have to do all this," she said.

"Yes I did. I needed to show you how much you mean to me."

"And how much do I mean to you?" She asked.

"You understand me. You understand what makes me happy and what makes me tick. You understand the job. You understand that it's more than a job. I've never had that with anybody else."

"I feel the same way."

"You are beautiful and smart and sexy and a damn good cop." He took her hand. "I'm in love with you, Kim."

A tear rolled down her cheek. She didn't bother to brush it away.

"I love you, too."

They both looked at each other, smiling. Ruzek leaned towards her and kissed her. It started slow, but quickly grew in intensity. His jacket slipped off her shoulders as his hands ran up and down her back. He wanted to feel her naked skin against his fingertips.

"Maybe we should go back to your place," she whispered.

"I love the way you think."

She stood up, picking his coat up off the ground. She looked over her shoulder to find he was still sitting on the bench, staring at her.

"Are you coming?" She asked.

"I'm just sitting back, enjoying the view."

"You're a pig," she commented.

"But I'm your pig."

She smiled before launching herself into his arms.

Author's Note: I've always wanted to see the two of them actually go out on a real date in the show. Maybe someday it'll happen. Until then, I hope you enjoyed my version of their "first date."


	10. Chapter 10 - Corndog

**Chapter 3 – Corndog**

Ruzek knew it was wrong the moment he agreed to it. He should never have told her that he would meet up with her at the FOP picnic for corndogs in the first place. Even as the words left his mouth, he was thinking about Burgess. The trouble was, he couldn't exactly admit to the blonde officer that he was seeing somebody else. If he did, word would get around and the guys in the department would start asking him a million questions. He knew that could not happen. His relationship with Burgess was a secret and that was the way it had to stay.

He knew Burgess had been angry about it, if not somewhat jealous of the blonde officer who asked him out. Burgess had even suggested that they take a break because things were getting 'too complicated.' Ruzek didn't take the time to remind her that everything about their relationship was complicated. From the very beginning, he was engaged to somebody else when they started their flirtations. It only got more complicated when he showed up at her door to apologize that he was the main reason she hadn't gotten the promotion to Intelligence and they ended up in bed together. That was definitely a good complication, though. Ruzek wouldn't have traded that complication for anything.

The makeup after the whole corndog incident had been well worth it. Burgess had meant it when she said he had been a bad boy. That night in bed with her had been one of the best nights he had ever had. But that was before - before he was forced to work with the blonde officer again on a case. It was before she asked for his phone number in case she had to contact him about evidence. Before she texted him to ask if he wanted to meet her for a drink after work. Before Burgess had seen the text message on his phone. It wasn't Burgess' fault. It wasn't like she was intentionally snooping. He had left his phone at her place that morning. It was the sound of the text coming through that even alerted Burgess that his phone was sitting on her nightstand. When she had given him back his phone outside in the parking lot, trying not to draw much attention to them, she had glared at him with daggers in her eyes. She had seen the text and she wasn't happy about it. He hadn't had the chance to speak with her all day and he could only imagine what she was thinking.

That was why Ruzek was standing outside of Burgess' apartment door with a case of her favorite beer in one hand and a box of chocolates in the other. The only problem was, she wouldn't open the door.

"Come on, Kim, open up," he said.

There was no response. He knew she was home and that she was just ignoring him on purpose.

"Can we talk about this, please? I know I screwed up. I'm sorry. Just open the door."

He waited, but nothing happened. Ruzek pulled out his phone and dialed her number. He could hear her phone ringing through the door, but she didn't answer. It went to voicemail. Pocketing his phone, he pounded on the door again.

"She's nobody to me, Kim, you know that. Please, just open the door." He paused, expecting a response. He decided to try a different tactic. "You know, in our line of work, it's never a good idea to go to bed angry. You never know what could happen tomorrow or…"

The door jerked open.

"Really? You're playing the 'we could die tomorrow' card?" She asked.

"Just let me explain."

"Why? Shouldn't you be out with corndog girl right about now?"

"You're so hot when you're angry," he said. She went to close the door, but he stuck his foot in the way. "Ok, I'm sorry."

"Go home, Adam."

"Not until we talk."

"I'm not in the mood to talk," she stated.

"Come on, Kim. Please, let me come in." He paused. "I'm begging here."  
She gradually backed away, allowing him to enter her apartment. He put the items he was carrying down in the kitchen. When he turned to look at her, she had her hands on her hips.

"Well…" she prompted.

"Look, I know what you must be thinking," he said.

"No, you don't."

"Nothing is going on with me and that woman. You can check my phone if you want."

"How did she get you personal phone number?"

"We needed her for another case. She asked me for my number so she could call me about some evidence."

"And you bought that?" She questioned. "You know her asking for your number had nothing to do with work."  
"I knew she had ulterior motives, but what was I supposed to do? This is the first time she's texted me that wasn't work related. I swear. I have no interest in her whatsoever. I don't even like blondes."

Burgess snorted. "That's a lie if I ever heard one. All men like blondes."

"Ok, fine. Blondes aren't so bad, but I much prefer brunettes who look good in a police uniform."  
"So you mean half the female force? You're not helping yourself."

"What do you want me to say? Yes, she asked me out."

"For a second time. She asked you out for a second time. Did we forget the corndogs at the FOP picnic counted as the first time she asked you out?"

"Fine, she asked me out again. And just like last time, I didn't meet up with her. I told you, I have no interest in her. You're all I want. I'm telling you the truth, Kim."  
She sighed. "I know."

"Then why the cold shoulder all day?"

"I hate being that girl."

"What girl?"

"Jealous. That's not me. I trust you, Adam, I do. I just…" she stopped.

"You what?"

"I…I love you, Adam. I love you and I hate that nobody else can know that!"

She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away from him as if she was afraid to meet his eyes. He walked towards her slowly.

"Well, that is very good news." He put his hand on her cheek. She looked into his eyes. "Because I love you too. And you better believe that if some hot, blonde male cop was asking you out, I'd be jealous too."  
"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. I'd probably have to take him out in the locker room or something."

"I think that would blow our cover."

He shrugged. "Maybe. But at least then he would know to keep his hands off."

"Does that mean I can punch corndog girl next time I see her?"

"As long as you say you love me one more time, I don't care what you do."

"I love you," she whispered.

Before she could even finish the words, he sealed their love with a kiss.

Author's Note: Sorry it's been so long since my last update! I know this chapter was short, but it was a lot of fun to write. Thanks for reading!


	11. Chapter 11 - Family Dinner

**Chapter 11 - Family Dinner**

Ruzek stood in front of the microwave, watching the seconds tick down to zero. Just as the microwave beeped to tell him his frozen dinner was done, Burgess walked into the kitchen from the bedroom. She had changed into a pair of yoga pants and a black tanktop, her hair down from its usual ponytail. Ruzek pulled the frozen mystery meat and vegetables out of the microwave and threw in a second tray. Burgess went to the refrigerator and took out two beers. She handed one to Ruzek.

"Thanks," he said.

Burgess took the tray of food Ruzek had removed from the microwave and brought it over to the table. She sat down, sipping her beer. Ruzek joined her with his microwave dinner a few moments later.

"You really need to start getting better food," Burgess commented, staring at her mystery meat.

"Oh, like the food at your place is any better?"

"At least I buy brand name frozen dinners," she retorted.

"Yeah, weight watchers. I starve to death when I'm at your place."

She smiled, knowing he was just teasing.

"So…" She began. "You're not working this weekend, are you?"

"Not unless we catch a case."

"Oh. Well, do you have any plans this weekend?"

"I thought we'd just hang out and watch the game this Sunday," he answered.

"Right. The game."

"Did you have something in mind?"

"Well, my sister Lucy is hosting a family dinner on Sunday."

"Oh, ok. Well then, I'll just go to Molly's for the game with the boys and we can rendezvous back here after dinner." She looked away from him, concentrating on pushing the mystery meat around with her fork. "Clearly that wasn't what I was supposed to say."

"My parents won't be there. They're going on a cruise or something. It's just going to be sister and her husband."

"Does that really count as a family dinner, then?"

"It's just…I want her to meet you. For you to meet her."

"You want me to go with you to family dinner?" He asked.

"Well…yeah."

"Does Lucy even know we're together?"

"No, but I want to tell her," Burgess answered. "I'm tired of us being a secret from everyone. She's my sister, Adam. I want her to know why I've been so happy recently. I want her to meet you, to get to know you."

"I thought you said your family didn't like me because they blame me for you not getting into Intelligence."

"My parents aren't exactly in your fan club, but that's because they don't know you. They have no idea that we're together now. And they're not even going to be there. My sister will love you. I know it's a big step to start meeting each other's families and I…"

"Kim, I just don't…"

She tried to hide her disappointment. He clearly wasn't interested in spending time with her and her family.

"It's ok. Don't worry about it. Like you said, we can meet back here after dinner."

She stood up, clearing her mostly uneaten frozen meal off the table. She dropped it in the garbage and went to the sink to wash her silverware. Leaving his food behind, Ruzek walked into the kitchen. He put his hands on her hips.

"I'm sorry," he apologized.

"No, it's fine. You're not ready. I get it."

"It's not that I'm not ready." He paused. "I'll be there."

"You don't have to."

"Yes, I do."

"Are you're sure?"

She turned around, his arms capturing her against the sink.

"Yes. I want to go. I want to meet your sister. It'll be our official coming out as a couple."

"With family only," Burgess corrected. "Voight and everyone else still can't know."

"Of course."

She smiled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Burgess couldn't tell whether she or Ruzek was more nervous as they pulled up in front of her sister's house. She knew Ruzek wanted to make a good impression and she wanted her sister to love him. Being the protective, older sister, it was rare that she liked any of Burgess' boyfriends. She was hoping Ruzek would be different.

"You ready to turn on the charm?" Burgess asked.

"I was born charming, babe."

Rolling her eyes, Burgess climbed out of the car. After grabbing a bottle of wine from the backseat, Ruzek walked around to her side of the car and took Burgess' hand. They walked to the front door together. Burgess rang the doorbell and they waited. A few moments later, the door opened. Burgess was expecting to see her sister. She was not expecting to see her mother.

"Kimberly!" Her mother exclaimed.

"Mom? I thought you and dad were going on a cruise."

"Your father came down with a stomach bug. He's at home recuperating. We had to postpone the cruise. Who is this?" She asked, staring at Ruzek.

"Mom, this is Adam, my…boyfriend."

Her mother clapped her hands together, excitedly. "You didn't tell me you had a boyfriend! Come in, come in."

Burgess glanced over at Ruzek, trying to tell her she was sorry in advance for her mother's behavior.

"It's ok," he whispered as they walked into the house. "Parents love me."

Burgess tried to keep a smile on her face. As they entered the living room, Burgess' sister played the dutiful hostess by taking their coats and opening the bottle of wine. Burgess introduced Ruzek to her sister, who nodded approvingly. They all sat down in the living room, waiting as the food cooked. Burgess and Ruzek sat on the loveseat, Ruzek's arm draped around Burgess' shoulder.

"So…Adam," Burgess' mother began. "We know nothing about you. Kimberly has kept you quite the little secret. What do you do?"

"Mom, don't interrogate him," Burgess said.

"I'm just asking what he does for a living, Kimberly."

"I'm a cop," Adam said. "We work at the same precinct."

"Oh, so you're a street cop," Burgess' mother said.

"Not exactly," Ruzek explained.

"Adam works in Intelligence, mom," Burgess added.

"Oh. Wasn't that the department you wanted to work for, sweetie?" Her mother asked.

"Yes mother."

"Wasn't the reason you didn't get that promotion was because that sergeant thought you were trying to sleep your way to the top?"

"Can we not talk about this?" Burgess asked. She knew exactly where her mother was going to go next. It was as if the woman couldn't help herrself.

"Wait…he's the one, isn't he?" Her mother asked, pointing at Ruzek. "He's the one who caused you to get passed over."

"Mom…" Burgess tried to interrupt.

"And now you're dating him? What's wrong with you sweetheart? I raised you better than that!"

"I am a grown woman, mother. I can make my own choices."

"I just don't understand how you can be with the man who ruined your career! And you didn't say he was engaged at the time? Are you his mistress or something?"

"Mrs. Burgess, Kim is not my mistress. My fiancé and I ended things before Kim and I even…" Ruzek tried to say.

"And worse!" She continued, ignoring Ruzek. She was staring at Burgess. "You brought him into our house!"

"He's not a monster, mom! It was a misunderstanding. Sergeant Voight jumped to conclusions about Adam's and my relationship. That's why I didn't get the promotion. And I already told you, Atwater deserved it just as much as I did and…"

"I just thought you'd have more self-respect than to…"

"Dinner's ready!" Burgess' sister announced, trying to calm the argument. Burgess watched as her mother stood up and stormed off to the dining room, her nose in the air.

"I'm sorry," Burgess whispered to Ruzek.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," he replied quietly.

"My mother's being...awful. I swear to you, I didn't speak badly of you when I was passed over for the promotion. I mean, sure I complained about it a little to her and then I guess she drew her own conclusions. And I suppose I can see why she might not like you, but she don't even know you and I think if she just…"

Ruzek put his hand on her arm.

"It's ok," he assured her.

"I just...I don't want her to hate you."

"Look, I'm great with parents. I just have to get her to see me for me, and not the guy who screwed up your promotion."

"Adam, you didn't…"

Burgess was interrupted by her mother shouting from the other room.

"Will you two be joining us?"

Ruzek stood up. He put out his hand for Burgess. He helped her to her feet.

"We could leave," she said. "We could walk out right now and go back to your place and…"

"No. We are not leaving with our tails between our legs. I'll win her over. I promise. Come on."

Together they walked into the dining room. Burgess' sister was just putting a cooked turkey on the table as Adam helped Burgess into her chair. He sat down beside her.

"So, Adam, tell me, how long were you a street cop before you got into Intelligence?" Lucy asked.

"I was…ah…pulled right from the academy," Adam answered truthfully.

"Imagine that. It was like you didn't even have to pay your dues," Burgess' mother stated.

"Mom," Burgess said with a warning in her voice.

"So, they plucked you from obscurity for a job that I'm sure other law enforcement personnel would have been more qualified for," her mother continued.

"Mom, that's enough," Burgess warned.

"I said it before and I'll say it again, I don't understand how you can bring home the man who ruined your career!" Her mother exclaimed.

"He didn't ruin my career, mom."

Her mother chose to ignore her. "Do you have any idea how difficult it is for a female police officer?" She asked, directing her question at Ruzek.

"Mrs. Burgess, I…" Adam began.

"Kim has had to work twice as hard as any male officer!" Her mother continued. "And then she's passed up for a promotion because they claim she's trying to sleep her way to the top! Maybe that's what other girls do, but not my Kimmy! What did you do? Seduce her into sleeping with you?"

"You just don't know when to quit, do you mom?!" Kim shouted, standing up. "I wanted to come here to have a nice meal with my family. And I wanted Lucy to be able to meet the person who has made me so happy these last few months. Because no matter what happened before, Adam makes me happy, mom. But you just have to go and ruin it! I can take care of myself, mom! I don't need you lecturing me about who I should date and why or why not. I don't need you to tell me about my career! And you know what, you don't have any idea what it's like to be a female officer because you aren't one! So back off!"

Burgess stormed away. Without even grabbing her coat, she went right out the front door, slamming the door behind her. Ruzek knew he should probably just not say another word and just follow her, but there was something he had to say first.

"I know you think I'm taking advantage of your daughter, Mrs. Burgess. I know you think I'm a terrible person for getting involved with her in the first place and I know you blame me for her getting passed over for that promotion. I can't change what happened and I wouldn't want to. I wouldn't give up any minute I've spent with your daughter because she is kind and smart and beautiful and one of the best damn cops I've ever worked with." He took a breath. "Now, I don't know what's going to happen in the future. I don't know if she'll get passed over for another promotion or if I'll stay in Intelligence for the rest of my career or what, but I do know that, no matter what happens, I want her in my life. I love your daughter, Mrs. Burgess. I love her and I hope that one day all of us can sit down and forget about what happened and just enjoy a meal together...for her sake." He turned to Lucy. "Thank you for having me over. I hope to see you again soon."

Ruzek stood up and walked out of the dining room. As he made his way towards the front door, he grabbed both of their coats from the hall closet. He pulled his coat on as he walked outside. Burgess was standing, leaning against the car. Her arms were folded over her chest, trying to keep warm.

"You look like you're freezing," he said, pulling her coat over her shoulders.

"I didn't want to go back in the house," she replied. "I didn't want to give my mother the satisfaction."

He pulled the keys from his pocket and unlocked the car. He saw Burgess wipe a tear from her cheek.

"It's ok," he said.

"It's not ok. She was...horrible to you."

"She just being protective," he assured her.

"My mom just doesn't know when to quit sometimes."

"All moms can be like that."

"We should have just stayed home and watched the game," Burgess said.

"No."

"No? I can't imagine that could have been much worse."

"It wasn't all bad and I'm glad we came."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "Because if we hadn't come, I don't know if I would have had the courage to say what I just said in there."

"What are you talking about? What did you say?"

"That you were incredible and smart and a damn good cop." He met her eyes. "And that I love you."

It took a moment for the words to sink in, but when they did, she smiled.

"You love me?"

"Yeah. I love you."  
"I love you, too."

She threw herself into his arms. He was forced to back up against the car as she attacked his lips with hers.

"Your mother could be watching," he warned her.

"Let her," she replied, kissing him until they were both breathless.

Author's Note: I don't know if Burgess' sister ever really got a name in the show so I made one up because I couldn't find it anywhere. Hope you enjoyed my version of family dinner night. Thanks for reading!


	12. Chapter 12 - Stuck

**Chapter 12 - Stuck**

"You realize that was a little suspicious, don't you?" Burgess whispered.

"What are you talking about?" Ruzek replied.

"You didn't even let Voight finish his sentence before you jumped at the chance to go up with me to check the top floor."

"You're thinking about it too much."

"I just don't want Voight to get suspicious."

"Voight wasn't even paying attention. He wanted a volunteer to check the top floor with you so I volunteered. Voight doesn't suspect a thing. You worry too much."

Walking side by side, Ruzek and Burgess stopped in front of the elevator. They were on the first floor of an apartment building that had just been built. It still had a few weeks before the residents would start moving in. With some help from Burgess and Roman, the Intelligence team had just busted a low level drug dealer who was working in one of the empty rooms. Finding the small scale set-up was just a stepping stone to finding the kingpin Intelligence was really after. Before they could move on, though, Voight wanted the team to check the rest of the apartment building. He assigned Burgess to the top floor. Ruzek quickly volunteered to go with her.

Burgess pushed the up button. Without even looking at him, she knew Ruzek was looking at her. She could feel his eyes on her like they were burning holes into her skin.

"Stop," she said quietly.

"Stop what?"

"Stop looking at me."

"Why? You're hard not to look at."

The elevator doors opened. Ruzek and Burgess stepped inside. As soon as the doors closed behind them, Ruzek pushed Burgess against the wall. He kissed her hard and fast.

"Wait," she said. "We can't."

"Nobody can see us," he said as he continued his assault on her mouth.

"There could be cameras."

"Not in operation. I checked."

"Adam," she moaned.

As Ruzek went to pull her hair out of its ponytail so he could get his hands in her brown locks, the elevator jerked to a stop. With her knees weak from the kiss, Burgess stumbled. Ruzek put his arm around her, stopping her from falling.

"You alright?" He asked when they were both steadily back on their feet.

"Yeah. What happened?"

"I don't know."

Ruzek looked up at the number above the elevator door to see what floor they were on. The screen was blank. Burgess hit the button for the top floor, but nothing happened. She hit a few more buttons, but it was more of the same. The panel wasn't even lit up. Ruzek grabbed the emergency phone. It was nothing but dead air.

"There's nobody to answer the phone," she reminded him.

Ruzek hung up the phone. They both reached for their cell phones.

"I have no service," he said.

"Me either."

Burgess went back to hitting buttons, but nothing happened.

"I don't think that's helping," Ruzek said.

"Do you have a better idea?" Burgess retorted.

Ruzek pointed to the radio attached to Burgess' hip. She rolled her eyes before grabbing the extender near her shoulder.

"This is Burgess," she said into the radio.

"Go ahead, Burgess," Roman replied.

"Ruzek and I are in the elevator. It stopped."

"Stopped?" Roman repeated.

"Yeah. We're stuck."

"In the elevator?"

"Yes."

"Did you try pressing the up button?"

Burgess rolled her eyes. "Just get us out of here, Roman."

"I'll take a look."

"Was Roman an elevator repair man in a former life?" Ruzek asked, taking a closer look at the panel of buttons.

Burgess smiled at his little attempt at a joke, but couldn't stop the panic from starting to set in. She could feel beads of sweat beginning to form on her forehead. She felt like she couldn't focus.

"How much air do you think we have?" She wondered.

"Why? Are you claustrophobic?"

"No," she answered quickly. She glanced around the elevator, looking at every nook and cranny. She was looking for some way to get out.

Ruzek noticed every move she made. He couldn't help but smile.

"You are," he said. "You're claustrophobic."

"I'm not claustrophobic."

"Wow."

"Wow what?"

She finally stopped looking around the small elevator to look at him. The sweat was beginning to drip down her back. She only hoped he wouldn't notice.

"I learned something new about you today. I didn't know that was possible. I thought I knew everything about you."

She raised her eyebrow. "There's a lot you don't know about me."  
"Oh really? Like what?"

Ruzek sat down on the floor of the elevator, leaning against the wall.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Just trying to get comfortable."

"We don't need to get comfortable. They're going to get us out. Soon."

He reached for her hand.

"Hey, Kim, are you ok?"

"Fine," she answered quickly.

She pulled her hand away from him as she shifted her eyes around the elevator again. Burgess looked down at Ruzek on the floor. She grabbed her radio a second time.

"Any news, Roman?" She asked.

"Looks like the whole place lost power. Can't find the source. Gotta call in the construction foreman. Could be a while."

"How long's a while?"

"You two ok in there?" He asked, ignoring her question. Somehow she knew he wasn't answering her because he didn't have an answer.

"Yeah," she answered.

"We'll be in touch, Burgess."

She sighed and looked down at Ruzek. He had one of his annoying smirks on his face. Feeling like she was having a hot flash that was going to cause her to melt into the floor, Burgess began to unzip her bullet proof vest.

"Woah, didn't know we were stripping."

"I'm just getting comfortable," she mumbled.

"You know, I could think of something we could do to pass the time."

"They could open those doors at any minute. We are not risking having sex in this elevator."

"I was just talking about making out, but if you want go right to sex…" he joked.

"You're infuriating, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know," he said with a smile. "So tell me something."

"What?"

"Tell me something about yourself I don't know."

"Why?"

"Because we're stuck in an elevator and we have nothing else to do. Come on…"

She sighed and began pacing around the elevator.

"Fine. I won the first grade spelling bee."

"Impressive. What was your winning word?"

"I don't remember," she stated.

"Everyone remembers their winning word."

She finally stopped pacing. "Sandwich. My winning word was sandwich."

"That's pretty advanced for a first grader."

"Tell me something about you that I don't know."

"I went to space camp," he told her.

"What?"

"When I was ten. I wanted to be an astronaut so I entered this contest where I had to draw a picture of my favorite planet. The winner won a trip to space camp. I won."

"What planet did you draw?"

"Pluto."

"Pluto's not even a planet anymore. And who has a favorite planet?"

He laughed. "I was a weird kid. Would you sit down please? You're starting to make me nervous." She placed her back against the wall and slid down until she was sitting beside him. "Thank you. Now tell me something else."

"I was prom queen my senior year."

"Really?"

"You sound surprised."

"No. I just…you don't seem like the prom queen type."

"Why? Because I'm not pretty enough?"

"Trust me, that's not the case. You are beautiful."

"Nice save."

"I always had a crush on our prom queen. Susan Smith. She was hot. There's just something about the crown and the dress and she had the best boobs in twelfth grade…"

"You don't know when to shut up, do you? Besides, it's your turn," she said.

"Uh-uh. I just told you something."

"Telling me about a girl with big boobs you used to drool over doesn't count."

"Fine." He paused, thinking of something to tell her. "I've seen Star Wars over three hundred times. The originals. Not the new ones."

"Three hundred times? That's…insane!" She exclaimed.

He shrugged. "What can I say? I had a thing for Princess Lea. What else don't I know about you?"

"I've never seen Star Wars."

"What?" He practically shouted. "Never?"

"I just wasn't interested."

"Oh, we definitely have to fix that. My place. Tonight. All three movies."

"You're on. Your turn again."

He stopped to think about it. Finally, he looked over at her.

"I love you," he stated.

"What?" She asked, confused if she had heard him correctly.

Roman's voice interrupted her, coming through the radio.

"The foreman's here. Elevator should start up again any second."

"Thanks, Roman," Burgess said.

Ruzek stood up. He offered his hand to Burgess and pulled her to her feet.

"Well, I guess we're getting out of here," Ruzek said.

"Yeah. Adam, I…" Just as suddenly as the elevator had stopped, it started up again. It began moving up. "I…"

Before she could finish speaking, the elevator stopped on the top floor and the doors opened. Voight and Dawson were standing in front of them.

"You two ok?" Voight asked.

"Yeah, fine," Ruzek answered.

Burgess quickly put her vest back on.

"We already cleared the floor," Dawson explained. "We can head back down, using the stairs of course."

Burgess breathed a sigh of relief. She glanced over at Ruzek as they all headed for the stairs. She had so much she wanted to tell him, but it was going to have to wait until they were alone.

As she stood outside Ruzek's front door, Burgess took a deep breath. His words kept playing over again in her mind. He told her he loved and she hadn't said it back. Burgess knocked on the door. A few seconds later, it opened.

"Hey…wow," Ruzek said, looking her up and down.

She had second guessed whether wearing her old, pink prom dress and prom queen tiara was a good idea. Judging by his reaction, she had made the right choice. She realized to anybody walking by on the street, she probably looked ridiculous, but she didn't care.

"I know you played that game with me today so I wouldn't freak out about being stuck in the elevator. I wanted to say thank you. The distraction helped. I really don't like being in small spaces." He didn't say anything. He was too busy staring at her. "Are you going to let me in so we can watch Star Wars?"

"No."

"No, you're not going to let me in?"

"No, we're not watching Star Wars."

"Ok."

He pulled her into the room and crashed his lips to hers.

"Bedroom," he grunted. "Now."

"Wait…" she panted.

"Don't wanna wait. You're killing me in that dress."

"There's something I need to say first."

He attached his lips to her neck.

"Hurry up and say it."

"I love you, too."

He detached himself from her and smiled at her. "That's very good to know. Now, can we please go to the bedroom?"

"You have a one track mind."

"Yeah, and it's only concentrating on you."

She jumped up, wrapping her legs around him. He carried her to the bedroom, all the while keeping her tiara on.

Author's Note: I loved writing this chapter. I hope you enjoyed reading it!


	13. Chapter 13 - Wendy

**Chapter 13 - Wendy**

It was the first time in moths that the temperatures in Chicago climbed over fifty degrees. Although there was still a bit of chill in the air, the people of Chicago flocked outside to soak up the Vitamin D. Burgess and Roman were on foot patrol, enjoying the freedom to stretch their legs in the sunshine. They walked down the sidewalk, passing by joggers and others who had finally shed their winter coats, hats, and mittens.

"Want to grab something to eat?" Roman asked.

"Yeah, sure," Burgess agreed.  
They saw a small café on the corner and walked down the street to the entrance. Roman opened the door and Burgess stepped inside. Roman followed. She glanced over the counter at the menu posted on the wall. She stood behind one customer in front of her, trying to decide between the chicken salad sandwich and the roast beef. At the very least, she knew she wanted a coffee. She and Ruzek had been up very late the night before and she hadn't gotten much sleep.

Just as she was about to decide what she wanted to order, Burgess heard a familiar laugh. She turned and saw Ruzek sitting at a corner table with a woman sitting across from him. He was laughing loudly. The woman wiped joyful tears from her eyes, her own laughter filling the small café. Although she had only met her a few times, Burgess recognized the woman sitting with Ruzek immediately. It was Wendy, Ruzek's ex-fiance.

"Hey, Burgess, you're up," Roman said as the person in front of Burgess completed his order.

Burgess couldn't take her eyes off of Ruzek and Wendy. She watched as Wendy put her hand on Ruzek's hand. They were both smiling and talking like a couple in love.

"Burgess?" Roman prompted.

"I'm not hungry," she lied. She stormed out of the restaurant, trying to blink away her tears.

Between the firefighters and police, Molly's Bar was crowded. Burgess was sitting at a round, high-top table, finishing off her second beer. Atwater and Roman were sitting with her, drinking and talking. She wasn't following their conversation. She kept eying Ruzek at the bar. He grabbed two beers and brought it to the table. He handed one to Burgess and gave her a wink. She knew it was their secret message that they were thinking about each other, but couldn't actually say it because there were coworkers around. She didn't wink back.

"You okay, Burgess?" Atwater asked.

"Fine," she answered quickly, chugging the beer Ruzek just gave her. He could sense there was something wrong, but he knew he couldn't ask.

"Heard the good weather's supposed to last," Roman said.

"Just means people will be coming out of hibernation and causing problems," Atwater added. "Good weather always brings out the crazies."

"Speaking of crazies," Burgess said with a bit of a slur. She was clearly tipsy. "Did you do anything crazy today, Ruzek?"

"No," he answered. "Just following up on some old cases."

"Oh really? So, nothing out of the ordinary happened today?" Burgess continued.

"Pretty cookie cutter day," Ruzek answered. "You sure you're ok, Burgess?"

"I'm fine," she insisted. "I'm getting a drink."

"You have a beer," Roman pointed out.

She chugged the beer and banged the empty glass bottle down on the table. She slid off the chair. Her first step was wobbly. Ruzek immediately put his hand out to help her, but she brushed him off.

"I'm fine," she repeated.

She stormed off towards the bar. Ruzek watched as she took a shot of whiskey with some of the firefighters. The guys tried to talk her into doing another shot, but she told them she was done. She knew she had to work in the morning and doing another shot would make that near impossible.

Burgess said her good-byes to everyone but Ruzek and made her way out of the bar. Knowing she was in no condition to drive, she put her hand up to hail a cab. The door of the bar opened behind her.

"I'll drive you," Ruzek said.

"No thanks."

"Come on, Kim. We can go back to my place and…" he put his hand on her arm. She yanked it away from him.

"Don't!" She warned.

"What is wrong with you?"

"Me? You have the nerve to ask what's wrong with me after what you did today?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he insisted.

"So now you're lying about it."

"Kim, I…"

He was interrupted by the sound of someone exiting the bar. It was Halstead.

"Hey," Halstead said.

"Hey," Ruzek replied.

"You two calling it a night?" Halstead asked.

"Yeah, but we're not leaving together or anything," Ruzek answered quickly. "Just coincidence."

Burgess rolled her eyes. He wasn't doing a good job of covering up their relationship.

"I have the early shift in the morning," she explained.

"I hear ya. Well, have a good night….separately. I'll see you tomorrow, Ruzek."

"Yeah, see ya," Ruzek said.

Halstead walked away in the direction of the parking lot. Just as he disappeared around the corner, a taxi pulled up. Burgess went to open the car door, but Ruzek stopped her.

"Don't," he said. "We need to talk."

"I'm going home."

"Kim…"

Burgess managed to get the door open and she slid onto the backseat. Ruzek looked both ways down the sidewalk to make sure nobody was paying attention to them and he climbed into the taxi with her.

"What are you doing?" She exclaimed.

"We're going to talk about whatever is bothering you."

"Somebody could have seen you! We don't need people to start gossiping about how we got into a taxi together!"  
"Nobody saw me."

"Where to?" The driver asked.

"Nowhere," Burgess answered. "He's getting out."

"No I'm not. Take us to 121 thirty-first street," Ruzek instructed, giving the taxi driver his address.

"I'm not going to your place," Burgess replied.

"Look, I'm not taking the lady anywhere she doesn't want to go," the driver said.

"Thank you," Burgess responded.

"Ok, fine. We'll just sit outside the front door of a bar where all of our friends and all of their friends are drinking and having a good time and will most likely be going home soon right through that door where we'll be in plain sight."

She huffed, knowing he was right. "I'm not going to your place."

"Fine. Let's just drive then," Ruzek said.

"It's your dollar, man," the driver responded.

Ruzek glanced over at Burgess. She was sitting with her arms crossed as far away from him as she could possibly get.

"So, are you going to tell me what's wrong?" He asked.

"I saw you," she answered, staring out the window instead of looking at him.

"Saw me what?"

"At lunch today. I saw you in that café with Wendy."

"That's what this is about?" He asked with a laugh.

"It isn't funny! You were having lunch with your ex-fiance. You were talking and laughing and touching each other and…"

"It was just lunch."

"Just lunch? Then why didn't you tell me about it?"

"Because we haven't had two seconds alone today. I wasn't trying to hide it." He paused. "Look, Kim, Wendy and I…"

"Don't. You don't have to say it. I get it, Adam. You were engaged and you broke up because of me. You told me you wanted to give your relationship with her a real try, you wanted to make it work with Wendy and maybe…maybe if we hadn't jumped into bed together, you could have done that."

"Kim…" Ruzek tried to interrupt.

"So I get it," she continued. "Wendy is beautiful and smart and you two have a connection and a history together and even though you and I have a connection, or at least I thought we had a connection, we can just go back to being friends and that's ok."

"Can I…" he said, trying again to get a word in.

"It's just that I love you," she said, finally looking at him. "I don't know when it happened, but somewhere along the lines, I fell in love with you. And it just…it isn't fair because I don't want to lose you."

She looked away from him again and wiped a tear from her eye.

"Do I get to talk now?" He asked. She didn't respond. "Kim, look at me. Please?"

She turned to look at him. He wiped a stray tear from her cheek.

"Wendy and I are not getting back together."

"You're not?" She asked, sounding like a sad, lost child.

"No, we're not. You're right, Wendy and I do have history, but it's over. It's been over for a long time, even before she and I officially broke up. And maybe our timing of getting together wasn't perfect, but Wendy and I didn't break up because of you and me. She and I changed from the people we were when we got together to when we broke up. We weren't meant to be and we both knew that."

"Then what happened at lunch today?"

"She met someone."

"What?"

"She's engaged. He's actually a childhood friend of hers. They reconnected on facebook or something. She called me a few days ago and asked me to go to lunch. She wanted to tell me in person that she was getting married before I heard it through the grapevine. I should have told you that I was meeting up with her and I'm sorry."

"No. I'm sorry. When I saw you with her, I…I jumped to conclusions. I'm so sorry, Adam."

He put his arm around her.

"It's ok."

"It's not ok. I shouldn't have…"

He silenced her with a kiss. It started slow, but eventually their lips met with fury passion. Their hands began exploring each other's bodies. As their kiss intensified, Ruzek pulled her onto his lap. The taxi driver cleared his throat, stopping them.

"Do we have a destination, then?" The taxi driver asked.

"I think we should go back to my apartment," Ruzek suggested.

"I think that's a very good idea," Burgess agreed.

"121 thirty-first street," Ruzek told him. He turned his attention back to Burgess. "There's one more thing about Wendy."

"What's that?"

"I told her about you. About us."

"You did?"

"Yeah. And she was really happy. She said we made a very cute couple."

"That was nice of her."

"And, when I told her I was in love with you, she wasn't very surprised," he added.

"Wait…what? You told her you were in love with me?"

"Well, that's the truth. I am in love with you."

"I guess we have Wendy to thank for us admitting our feelings."

"Thank you, Wendy," Ruzek mumbled as his lips got dangerously close to Burgess' lips.

"We're here," the taxi driver announced, stopping the car in front of Ruzek's house.

Both of them ignored him, too busy with each other.

Author's Note: I just had to throw a Wendy chapter in here somewhere! Hope you liked it!


	14. Chapter 14 - Late

**Chapter 14 - Late**

Burgess knew she was running a couple minutes behind. She hated being late and she hated it even more that Platt wouldn't let her forget it. Burgess quickly threw her hair up in a ponytail and practically sprinted out of the locker room. Roman was already standing by the front desk, waiting for her. She walked up beside him, ready to begin her shift, hoping neither he nor Platt would notice that she was a few minutes late.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," Roman replied.

They both stood, waiting to get their car assignment for the day. The only problem was, Platt was on the phone completely ignoring them. Although she wasn't talking, she didn't seem happy. Burgess hoped Platt was sidetracked enough to not notice the time.

"What's her problem?" Burgess wondered out loud.

"I have no idea," Roman answered.

"Hey Sarg, can we get a car?" Burgess finally asked after they stood at the desk for another few minutes.

Platt put her finger up and glared at Burgess.

"Yes, I'm still here," Platt said into the phone. "Do not put me on hold again. This is the Chicago police department! We were told we'd get those radios in one week!"

"I'd hate to be the person on the other end of the phone," Burgess mumbled under her breath.

"Yeah, me too," Roman agreed.

"We ordered them on the 1st. It is now the 15th! We need those radios!" Platt shouted.

Burgess furrowed her brow. She looked at the calendar behind Platt's desk.

"Wait…it's the 15th?" Burgess asked.

"Yeah. That's usually what comes after the 14th," Roman joked. Burgess continued to stare at the calendar, doing the mental math. "You ok, Burgess?"

"Fine!" Platt yelled, slamming the phone down.

"Everything alright, Sarg?" Roman asked.

"Does it sound like everything's alright?" She retorted.

"We just need a car," Roman said.

Platt turned around and grabbed a set of keys from the board. She practically threw them on the counter before turning around and storming off in a huff.

"I wonder what the hell that was all about," Roman said, looking at Burgess. She didn't respond. She didn't even hear him. "Burgess…Burgess!"

"Yeah, sorry. What?"

"You ok?"

"Fine," she answered quickly.

"Are you ready?" Roman asked, holding up the keys.

"Ah…I have to go to the bathroom. I'll meet you outside."

Burgess quickly made her way back into the locker room. She unlocked her locker and pulled out her duffle bag. She began to rummage through until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out the small, thin pack and opened it up.

"Crap," she muttered, looking at the pills inside.

She slumped down onto one of the benches. Closing her eyes, she leaned her head against the bank of lockers. She took a deep breath. She wanted to talk to Ruzek. She needed to talk to Ruzek. She knew he was just upstairs, but she also knew she couldn't exactly go storming up there to talk to him. Their relationship was still a secret and it had to stay that way. Having no other choice, Burgess pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. She settled on texting him.

'My place tonight?' she wrote.

She only had to wait a moment for his response. 'I'll bring the beer.'

Burgess paused a moment before she sent the next message.

'I miss you.'

'Miss you 2. See u tonight'

Burgess slipped her phone back in her pocket before putting her bag back in the locker. She took a look at herself in the mirror hanging on the door of her locker. She was hoping nobody would notice her sudden panic. Taking a deep breath, she walked out of the room, hoping she'd make it through the day.

Burgess sat on her living room couch, staring at the box she had placed on the coffee table in front of her. She glanced over at her door, willing for Ruzek to be standing on the other side of the door. She had been home for more than three hours and she knew for a fact that Ruzek had been off shift for the same amount of time. He had texted to say he was stopping by Molly's after work to have a drink with Olinsky. A half hour later, he texted again to say other members of the Intelligence team had joined them. He invited her to meet up with them, but she had declined. She had reminded him that he was supposed to meet her at her place. He said he would be there soon. That had been an hour ago.

Burgess' phone began to ring and she immediately picked it up.

"Hey, are you on your way?" She asked.

"Sorry, babe. We got a case."

"Weren't you all just drinking at Molly's?"

"Yeah, but Voight wants us to come in," Ruzek explained. "Raincheck?" Burgess didn't respond. She needed to talk to him and she didn't want to do it over the phone. "Kim?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll see you later."

She hung up the phone, placing it back on the table next to the box. Burgess picked up the box and stared at it. She knew she could do it alone. She didn't need Ruzek's help to pee on a stick. The trouble was, she wasn't sure if she wanted to face the consequences of the pregnancy test without him. She put the box back down on the table and walked into the bedroom, hoping she'd be able to get some sleep.

The next morning, Burgess was walking down the sidewalk towards the precinct when she saw Ruzek walking out of the building with Olinsky. She smiled at him, but was planning on walking right by. She was not in the mood to make small talk.

"Hey," he said.

She stopped.

"Hi."

"I'll meet you in the car," Ruzek said to Olinsky.

"Make it fast," Olinsky replied.

"I'm sorry about last night," Ruzek apologized, speaking softly to Burgess. "Let me make it up to you tonight. I'll pick up some takeout and we can…"

"Yeah, that's fine."

She continued to walk forward towards the building. Ruzek put his hand on her arm.

"Everything ok?" He asked.

"Someone will see," she hissed, pulling away from him.

"Hey, Kim, if you're pissed about last night…"

"My shift's about to start and Olinsky's waiting for you."

She climbed the steps, leaving him staring after her.

At lunchtime, Burgess stood in one of the lounges in the precinct, waiting for her microwave meal to finish heating up. She was zoning out, thinking about the box that was still sitting on her living room table untouched, when Ruzek walked in. He closed the door behind him.

"Hey," he said. Startled, she jumped. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"I thought you guys were working on a big case," she said.

"I'm taking a break." He stepped closer to her and attempted to put his arms around her.

"Don't. We're at work."

"Come on, there's nobody here."

He looped one arm around her waist and tried to pull her towards him. She pushed his hand away as the microwave beeped.

"I only have ten more minutes for lunch," she stated, taking the plastic tray out of the microwave.

"Wow, you're really mad at me, aren't you?" She didn't answer. "I'm sorry I didn't come over last night. I had a case, Burgess. You can't…"

"I'm not mad about you having to work."

"Alright, so I shouldn't have gone to Molly's after you and I agreed to get together, but Olinsky didn't want to go home and needed someone to talk to and then…"

"It's fine, Adam," she stated.

"Clearly, it's not."

She turned around with the tray of food in her hand. Not knowing Ruzek was standing so close to her, she banged into him, spilling the pasta on herself. Ruzek immediately grabbed a towel and tried to dab the red sauce from her shirt.

"Just…don't!" She exclaimed, irritated. She grabbed the towel from him, went over to the sink and wet it.

"Hey, what's going on?" He asked.

She threw the toilet down on the counter and sighed.

"I'm late."

"I thought you just said you had ten more minutes."

"I'm not late for my shift. I'm two weeks late." She enunciated every word, trying to get him to understand. When she realized he wasn't getting it, she decided to spill it out for him. "My period is two weeks late." She looked into his eyes as he finally understood her meaning.

"How do you…how do you know?" He stuttered. "I mean, aren't women sometimes…irregular or whatever?"

"Not me. I've gotten my period every month for almost my entire life on the first or second of each month. I haven't gotten it this month and it's the 16th."

"Ok, well…did you take…a test or something?"

"No," she answered. "I was going to last night, but I was waiting for you. I was too…afraid to take it on my own."

"Ok. Look, I'll come over after shift. We'll…figure this out."

He put his hand on her cheek. She closed her eyes for a moment, feeling his skin against hers. The moment was shattered when they both heard the door opening. They immediately jumped apart.

"Thank you, Officer Ruzek," she said, acting as if nothing was going on.

"No problem."

She slipped out of the room, leaving the remnants of her microwave lunch on the counter.

It was exactly six o'clock when Ruzek started knocking on Burgess' door. Putting her hairdryer down, she emerged from the bathroom. After getting home, she immediately hopped in the shower. She needed something to calm her down. The shower had worked until she heard the knock on the door. Then she felt panicked all over again.

Burgess opened the door. Ruzek was standing in the hallway, holding a bouquet of flowers and a bag of takeout food from their favorite Chinese restaurant.

"For you," he said, handing her the flowers.

"Thank you. Come on in."

Burgess stepped aside so Ruzek could walk in. She shut the door behind him. He brought the food to the kitchen while she put the flowers in a vase.

"You hungry?" He asked.

"I think…I think I just want to know," she answered.

"Ok." She picked up the pregnancy test from where she had left it on the table. "Need any help?"

"You want to hold the stick while I pee on it?" She questioned jokingly. "I'll be right back."

She walked with the box into the bathroom. After reading the instructions, she conducted her business. She left the pregnancy test on the bathroom sink and set her cell phone timer. They had to wait five minutes. She walked back into the living room. Ruzek was sitting on the couch.

"So…" he began.

"We have to wait." She sat down beside him. They both stared straight ahead.

"We could do this, you know," he said.

"Do what?"

"Have a baby. Me and you. We could do it."

"Adam…nobody even knows we're together. How are we supposed to have a baby?"

He turned towards her.

"I mean, things would obviously have to change, but we could do it. You'd be a great mom and…"

"I'm a cop," she reminded him.

"I know."

"Do you know what happens to cops who get pregnant?" She asked. "They're put on desk duty."

"Yeah, but only until the baby's born."

"You think they'll put someone out on the streets with a newborn at home? What happens when I have to pee every five seconds? Or if I wanted to breastfeed, where am I supposed to pump? In the back of a squad car?"

"You'd figure it out. We'd figure it out," he insisted.

"It's easy for you to say because it won't effect your career! A female cop having a baby is basically a career death sentence."

"So what do you want to do?"

She shook her head. "I don't know." She stood up and began pacing.

"Kim, sit down. Please…"

"It's my fault."

"What is?"

"I forgot to take my birth control. I don't know what happened. I just…"

He stood up, walking behind her. He put his hand on her shoulders, massaging them.

"It's ok," he assured her.

"It's not ok."

He turned her around. Placing his fingers under her chin, he locked her eyes on his.

"This is not your fault. It takes two to make a baby. And whatever you want to do, whatever you decide, I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. I love you, Kim."

A tear rolled down her cheek. He leaned in to kiss her, but was interrupted when the timer on her phone went off. They both looked at each other, but neither said a word. Ruzek took her hand and they walked together into the bathroom.

"I don't think I can look," she said.

Ruzek picked up the test and stared at it.

"What does one line mean?" He asked.

Burgess quickly snatched it from his hand. She looked at it closely.

"It's not a line. It's a negative symbol."

"Negative?"

"I'm not pregnant," she said.

She put the test back on the sink. She couldn't take her eyes off of it. The one thing that she had spent the last thirty hours worrying about, was over. She just didn't know if she was happy or sad.

"You ok?" He asked.

"Yeah. I just…I thought I knew. I thought…I was sure. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have put you through this."

"Hey, hey, it's ok."

He wrapped his arms around her, hugging her close. He kissed her on the top of her head.

"Are you ok?" She asked, tipping her head up to look at him.

"Yeah."

"You wanted this, didn't you? A baby?"

He shrugged. "After you told me at lunch today, I started thinking about it. I don't think it would have been the worst thing. I always saw myself with kids, you know. What about you?"

She nodded. "I always wanted kids, too. Someday."

"You'll be a great mom," he commented.

"And you'll be an amazing dad…someday."

"Someday," he agreed. He kissed her on the forehead. "I can see it, you know."

"See what?"

"Me, you, two kids running around."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

"I'm just saying, I can see it sometime in the future," he said with a smile.

"Me too." She paused. "Well, at least one good thing came out of all of this."

"What's that?"

"You told me you loved me."

"I did, didn't I?" He replied.

"Yeah. So I guess I should tell you that I love you, too."

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him lightly.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"That you were worried all this time. That I didn't come over last night and left you all alone with the stress."

"It's ok, Adam."

"I think you deserve a relaxing evening after all this."

"What did you have in mind?"

He took her hand and led her into the living room. He motioned for her to sit down on the couch while he went into the kitchen to grab the Chinese food. With two forks, two beers, and the takeout bag in his arms, he sat down beside her. She immediately leaned against him. He grabbed the television remote and turned on the TV.

"Is there a game on or something?" She asked.

"No. I thought we could watch that chick flick you have on the DVR and have been trying to get me to watch for weeks."

"You'd do that for me?" She asked.

"I'd do anything for you."  
"Could have told me that before."

"What do you mean?"

"I already erased it off the DVR," she told him.

"Then I guess we'll have to find a game that's on."  
"Oh, don't worry. I might have erased it off the DVR but it is On Demand."

She grabbed the remote from him and began looking for the movie.

"Lucky me," he said sarcastically.

"It was your idea," she reminded him.

"It's all because I love you."

"I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing that."

"Good, because I plan on saying it a lot."

She smiled, knowing that whatever happened in their future, they would be together and that was all that mattered.

Author's Note: I know – corny ending, but I'm a sucker for those. This was actually one of the first chapters I wrote for this story, but I wanted to hold onto it for a while. Hope you liked it!


	15. Chapter 15 - Uninvited Guest

**Chapter 15 - Uninvited Guest**

Ruzek poured Burgess a second glass of wine before placing the bottle back in the middle of the table.

"Are you trying to get me drunk?" She asked with a smile.

"Maybe. Is it working?"

"Maybe."

She took a sip of the newly poured wine. They were sitting opposite each other at Ruzek's dining room table, enjoying takeout from Burgess' favorite Italian restaurant. Ruzek had set up a romantic dinner complete with dim lighting, lit candlesticks, and an expensive bottle of wine. After getting off shift, Burgess had run home to shower and dress. She settled on wearing a short, black skirt and a white, sleeveless blouse. Judging by the look on Ruzek's face when he opened the door, he wasn't disappointed.

"So, how's Roman working out?" Ruzek asked.

"I think it'll work out."

"Oh yeah? He doesn't like…hit on you or anything, does he?"

"Why? Would that make you jealous?"

"Maybe," he answered.

"He doesn't hit on me. We're partners. That's it. And he's a good cop. He has my back."

"That's all you can ask for in a partner."

"Thank you," she said.

"For what? For asking if Roman hits on you?"

"No," she answered. "For this. It's nice to have a quiet evening at home alone with good wine, good food, and good company."

"Just wait. I got your favorite cupcakes from that bakery down the street."

"I was actually thinking we could have something else for dessert," she said.

"Oh yeah?" He asked with his eyebrows raised. "What's that?"

Burgess put down her fork and walked over to Ruzek's chair. He pushed back, away from the table. She straddled his lap, her skirt riding up her thighs. She began kissing his neck. He ran his hands up and down her back, eventually burying his left hand in her hair. Her lips finally found his and they kissed hard and fast. Burgess began to make quick work of the buttons on Ruzek's dress shirt. She pushed the fabric aside and ran her hands up and down his naked chest before turning her attention to his belt. While she worked on undressing him, he quickly pulled her blouse over her head and threw it on the floor. He slid her bra strap off her shoulder and began working on finding the zipper on her skirt. As she pushed his shirt off his shoulders completely, they both heard the front door opening.

"Hey, bro, I know you told me your key was only for emergencies, but…" a male's voice said. He was cut off when he saw Ruzek and Burgess half-naked at the table. "Woah."

"Damn it, Chris," Ruzek said, trying to block Burgess' body from the man's prying eyes.

Burgess buried her head against Ruzek's neck, feeling like she was going to die of embarrassment.

"Sorry, I didn't know you had company," Chris said.

"That's because you didn't call or even knock!" Ruzek exclaimed, fastening his belt again. He reached down and picked up Burgess' shirt.

"I'm Chris," he said, approaching Burgess and Ruzek.

"Man, turn around," Ruzek commanded.

"Right, sorry."

Burgess waited for him to turn his back before she climbed off of Ruzek's lap. She quickly pulled her blouse over her head and straightened her skirt. Ruzek buttoned up his shirt.

"Alright, we're all decent," Ruzek announced.

"Well, that's a bummer," Chris mumbled before turning around. Ruzek practically glared at Chris as he continued to stare at Burgess.

"I guess I should make some introductions," Ruzek said. "Kim, this is my brother, Chris. Chris this is Kim, my girlfriend."

"It's nice to meet you," Chris said, shaking Burgess' hand. "You're very beautiful."

"Alright, back off Chris."

Burgess looked Chris over quickly as only a cop could. She noticed the family resemblance immediately. Both Ruzek and Chris had the same eyes and chin. He looked older than Ruzek, but only by a few years.

"I'm sorry I barged in on your evening," Chris apologized. "I can see you were ahh…"

"Don't finish that sentence," Ruzek commanded.

"Right, sorry. Sometimes I don't know when to shut up."

"Sometimes?" Ruzek replied with a raised eyebrow.

"Ok, most of the time I don't know when to shut up."

"What are you doing here, Chris?" Ruzek asked.

"Well…Misty and I broke up and I didn't have anywhere else to go."

Ruzek sighed. "Sorry man."

"I can go if…"

"No. Don't worry about it. Stay."

"Would you like some food?" Burgess offered. "We have plenty of pasta."

"And she cooks, too," Chris said. "She's a keeper man."

"I'd love to take the credit, but it's takeout," Burgess explained.

"Even better. You got any beer?"

"Yeah," Ruzek said. He put his hand on Burgess' arm and mouthed the word 'sorry' to her. He was looking forward to their romantic evening just as much as she was. She just shrugged.

"You know, Adam may be the cuter of us two, but I'm the better lover," Chris said with a smile.

"Stop trying to get in my girlfriend's pants."

"Last I checked, she wasn't wearing any pants. I'm just kidding," Chris said to Burgess. "Ruzek's told me all about you."

"Oh really?" She replied.

"Yeah. He said you were smart and a damn good cop. He failed to mention how good you looked in a skirt."

"Knock it off, Chris," Ruzek said, handing Chris a beer.

"Sorry, I'll behave. I promise."

"So…what happened between you and Misty?" Ruzek asked.

"It's a long story."

"We have time," Burgess assured him.

It took over an hour for Chris to explain to Ruzek the troubles he and his girlfriend were having. Although she didn't know Chris at all, Burgess could tell he was devastated over the breakup. After sitting next to Ruzek on the couch, not saying much, Burgess decided it was time for the brothers to have 'guy time.'

"I think I'm going to head home for the night," she said. "I'll leave you two to chat."

"You don't have to go on my account," Chris insisted.

"Really, it's ok," she replied.

Ruzek look over at her giving her puppy dog eyes. He was looking forward to spending the night with her and he did not want her to leave.

"Stay, babe," he said.

"Adam…

"Look, I can get a hotel or something," Chris offered. "Or I can go stay with mom and dad."

"No, that would just be torture," Ruzek responded. "Mom wouldn't leave you alone. You're welcome to stay. The couch pulls out. And, Kim, you're staying too."

"Really, I…" Burgess began.

"We never get to spend time together," Ruzek said to her. "You're staying. We can figure out everything else in the morning."

"Thanks, man," Chris responded.

"That's what brothers are for," Ruzek said. "Anything you need is in the front closet."

"Thanks."

"Goodnight," Burgess said.

"Goodnight," Chris replied.

Burgess and Ruzek made their way into Ruzek's bedroom.

"I'm sorry about all this," he apologized as soon as the door was closed.

"It's ok. He's your brother."

Ruzek wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.

"We could still…you know."

"He's right on the other side of the door."

"We'll just have to be quiet."

"Adam…"

"Come on, between our two schedules, we never get to spend nights together. I'm tired of us having to run out on each other after a quickie."

"Are you complaining about our quickies?'

"Hell no. But I've had blue balls for the last hour listening to him talk."

"Ok," she agreed. "But you have to be quiet."

"Me? You're the loud one."

"I'm not loud," she insisted.

"Oh yeah?"

He picked her up and slung her effortlessly over his shoulder and dropped her onto the bed. He crawled on top of her and began kissing every inch of skin he could access. Burgess bit back a moan. She did not need Ruzek's brother knowing they were getting busy.

As Burgess sat up to unzip her skirt, she heard an unmistakable sound. Ruzek went to slide his hand up her leg, but she stopped him.

"Wait," she said.

"What is it?"

"I think…I think I hear crying."

They both held their breath, listening. Sure enough, they could hear the faint sounds of crying. Ruzek closed his eyes and sighed.

"He'll be fine," Ruzek insisted.

"Adam, you cannot leave him out there all alone."

He groaned. "Why did he have to break up with his girlfriend today?"

"You're his brother. He needs you. Go."

With a sigh, Ruzek climbed off the bed. He left the room, leaving the door slightly ajar. Burgess shimmied out of her skirt and blouse, grabbed one of Ruzek's T-Shirts from his bureau, and pulled it on. She grabbed a magazine from his nightstand and settled against the pillows, awaiting Ruzek's return.

She could hear Ruzek grabbing two beers, one for him and one for his brother. She didn't mean to, but she couldn't help but listen as they chatted.

"Do you still love her?" Ruzek asked.

"Of course. I mean, she drives me crazy, but I love her."

"Then you have to go after her, man. You can't just let her go without a fight."

"I think she's done with me."

"But you won't know that if you don't try. If she doesn't want to get back together in the end, then you can live with that. What you can't live with is not trying."

"What about you and Kim?"

Kim's ears perked up at the sound of her name. She crawled to the end of the bed so she was closer to the door.

"We're not talking about me and Kim."

"Come on, man. She's hot, she's smart. You two look good together. So what's the story?"

"I don't know, we're just…taking it day by day. Seeing how things go."

"You tell anyone at work about her yet?" Chris asked.

"No. We don't want to ruin Kim's chance of getting a promotion."

"Well, you should tell her, man."

"Tell her what?" Ruzek wondered.

"That you love her."

"I don't know if…"

"Oh come on, man, don't deny it. I saw the way you were looking at her and it wasn't just because she was half naked on your lap. I never saw you look at Wendy that way. Hell, I've never seen you look at any other woman that way. You might not be ready to admit it, but you love her. Don't let her go."

Burgess thought about Chris' words. Sure, the idea had entered her mind before. She had thought about the L word, but neither of them had said it yet. Maybe it was because they were forced to keep their relationship a secret or because their relationship had such a rocky start, but love just didn't seem like it was on the table. Apparently, though, it was.

As Ruzek steered the conversation back to Chris and Molly, Burgess settled back against the pillows. She closed her eyes and eventually fell asleep.

Burgess didn't know how long she was asleep when she felt Ruzek getting into the bed beside her.

"Hey," she whispered.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up," he said.

"It's ok. I didn't mean to fall asleep."

"It's late. We should both be sleeping."

She snuggled against him as he settled in. She put her hand on his chest, hearing his heartbeat. She sighed.

"How's Chris?"

"He's ok. I think he's going to try to get Misty back. We'll have to wait and see what happens."

"I heard you talking," she said, sleepily.

"Were you eavesdropping?"

She yawned. "Maybe a little."

"What exactly did you hear?"

"That you believe if you love someone, you have to fight for them."

"That all?"

"And that Chris thinks you're in love with me."

"What do you think?"

"I think I love you," she admitted.

"Then I guess my brother was right. Because I love you, too."

He kissed the top of her head as she smiled.

"Goodnight," she whispered.

"Goodnight, love."

They both fell asleep, smiling.

Author's Note: I love, love, loved writing this chapter. I totally made up the fact that Ruzek had a brother, but I needed him to make the chapter work. Hope you liked it!


	16. Chapter 16 - Move In

**Chapter 16 – Move In**

Burgess leaned her elbow on the high-top counter as she scrolled through a website she had surfed dozens of times in the past two days. There were no new updates and she was beginning to get frustrated. She glanced at the clock. She still had ten minutes before her shift actually started. She had gotten to the precinct early so that she could use the computer. Her Internet service in her apartment was down and she needed to find what she was looking for before she ran out of time.

"Hey," someone said behind her.

Burgess turned around. Ruzek was walking into the room. He glanced down the hallway to make sure no one else was around before he approached her.

"Hey," she replied, turning her attention back to the computer.

"What? No good morning kiss?"

"We're at work."

"You didn't come over last night," he stated.

"Sorry. I've been trying to figure out what to do."

"What to do about what?" He asked, attempting to snake his arm around her waist. She brushed him off.

"My apartment. My lease is up at the end of the week."

"I thought you had decided to stay put and sign a lease for another year," he said.

"I was going to, but the Internet is down for the third time this week. My sink has been leaking for the better part of a month and the whole building should have been re-carpeted years ago, but the landlord says he can't afford it. It's a dump, Adam, and I need to find somewhere else to live before my lease is up."

"Have you found anything promising?"

She clicked out of the website and turned to face him. He put his hands on the counter on either side of her body, trapping her.

"We're at work," she repeated.

"Nobody's coming. And I'm still waiting for my good morning kiss."

"Adam…"

She was cut off by his lips pressing against hers. He kissed her briefly, knowing that at any minute someone could walk into the room. When they parted, he reluctantly pulled away from her so that anyone walking into the room would think they were just talking.

"So…any prospective apartments?" He asked.

"They're all either two expensive or too far away or in an unsavory neighborhood or they have only one bedroom or…"

"Do you need more than one bedroom?"

"I need the closet space for two bedrooms," she answered. "The problem is, if I'm not going to renew my lease on my apartment, I have to be out in just a few days. I haven't even started packing and I don't know where I'm going to live and…"

"Hey, hey," he said, calming her down. He took her hand. "There's an easy solution."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"You can just move in with me."

"Temporarily, yeah, but…"

"No. Not temporarily," he corrected.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm asking you to move in with me."

"That's not possible."

"Why not? You need a place to live and we spend practically every night together anyway and I've got plenty of closet space and…"

"No, Adam," she stated.

"Why not?"

"Well, for one, nobody knows we're together. What happens when I have to change my address to your address and somebody notices?"

"Nobody will notice."  
"Platt notices everything," she remarked.

"Ok, so we'll get you a PO Box for mail."

"They'll need an actual address for all the paperwork, Adam. Besides, it's not just the…logistics."

"Then what is it?" He asked.

"It's…us," she said.

"What about us?"

"We're not there yet," she stated.

"There, where?"

"There as in moving in together. Adam, we've only been together for a few months."

"Yeah, a few really good months," Ruzek corrected.

"Yes, but we haven't even…" she cut herself off.

"We haven't what?"

"We haven't…said it yet."

"Said what?"

"You know, those three words, one of which begins with L."

"I love you?" He questioned. "You won't move in with me because we haven't said I love you?"

"It's an important step."

"Ok. I love you."

Burgess took a moment to process what he said. She blinked a few times, trying to think of what she was going to say. She was saved from having to think when Roman popped into the room. Both Burgess and Ruzek took a step back from each other even though they weren't exactly doing anything suspicious.

"I've been looking for you," Roman said.

"Sorry," Burgess replied. "Ruzek was asking about that arrest we did last week."

"Yeah, thought it might be related to our case," Ruzek continued.

"Well, if you two are done, Platt's got an assignment for us."

"Yeah, we're done," Burgess stated.

She brushed past Ruzek and walked out with Roman, unable to stop thinking about what Ruzek had said.

After her shift was over, Burgess went right back to her apartment and started packing. She was busy throwing clothes from her bureau into a suitcase when she was interrupted by a knock at the door. She huffed and stormed out of her bedroom. She threw the door open and turned on her heels back towards her room without giving Ruzek so much as a look.

"I brought beer," he said, stepping in to the apartment.

"Great."

Back in her bedroom, Burgess opened another drawer and began throwing her tank tops and socks into the suitcase with her T-shirts.

"What's going on?" He asked after he put the six pack of beer in the refrigerator and joined her in her bedroom.

"I'm packing. I have to be out by Friday, remember?"

"Ok, well, I'll help you," he offered. "We can put some boxes in the car tonight and bring them to my place."

"No," she stated.

"No? What do you mean no?"

"I mean I'm not moving in with you."

"Why not?" He asked.

"I found a place on State Street that I can afford and…"

"On State Street? That's not a very nice neighborhood."

"Yeah, well, it's what I can afford and at least it has new carpet and the sink doesn't leak. And I'm a cop so I'll be fine. The apartment isn't available until next month so I'm going to stay with my sister and…"

"Why don't you just move in with me?"

"We went over this earlier."

"We can figure out the logistics with your address and…"

"It's not just that," Burgess interrupted.

"Then what is it?"

"You just…you blurted out that you loved me in the back office at work."

"You're the one who told me we couldn't move in together because we hadn't said that word yet. So, I said the word."

"It's not that simple."

"Why not? It's just a word, Burgess."

"Just a word," she whispered. She finished emptying the drawer she was working on and went to the next drawer down. She began emptying bras and panties into the suitcase. She threw a black thong over her shoulder. Ruzek caught it.

"Do I get to keep this one?" He asked with a smirk. Burgess rolled her eyes, choosing to ignore him. "Are you mad at me?"

"I'm not mad," she answered.

"Ok, so what's going on? Did I do something wrong?"

"No."

"Look, if you don't want to move in with me, you can just tell me. It won't hurt my feelings. I just thought it would be nice for us to spend nights and mornings together."

She turned around to look at him. "It's not that I don't want to move in with you."  
"Then is it just that you don't want Voight to know?"

"That's part of it, but..."

"But?" He prompted.

"Did you mean it?"

"Mean what?"

"Did you mean it when you said you loved me? Or did you just say it because you thought I wanted to hear it?"

"I wouldn't have said it if I hadn't mean it," Ruzek said, putting his hands on her waist. "I love you, Kim."

"You do?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Really?" She questioned.

"How many different ways do I have to say it? I love you."

"Well, ok."

"Ok," he repeated.

"Well...I…I love you, too," she said.

"I'm very glad to hear that." He paused. "Look, I'm sorry I just blurted it out earlier. I should have tried to be more romantic."

"It's ok."

"So, now that we've got that settled…will you move in with me?" He asked.

"Yes, I will move in with you."

He smiled. "That is very good news."  
"We're going to have to tell Voight about us," she stated.

"Wait…what?"

"We can't move in together and not tell Voight. It'll just be too…difficult. Keeping this secret…it's not worth it."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "I don't want to lie anymore."

"Ok. But I think we should christen this bed a few more times before you move out. After all, this was the first place we had sex."

"Then I guess we should also christen the shower because that was the second place we had sex."

"I love the way you think."

She jumped up, wrapping her legs around him and they fell onto the bed, kissing.

Author's Note: I really wish they would make a point of having Burgess and Ruzek move in together on the show. I think it would just give us so many more cute moments! Thanks for reading!


	17. Chapter 17 - All Dressed Up

**Chapter 17 - All Dressed Up**

"Gather around everybody," Voight said as he walked out of his office. Ruzek immediately sent the text he was writing to Burgess and pocketed his phone. He and the other members of the Intelligence team stood around Voight in a semi-circle.

"What's up, Sarg?" Lindsey asked.

"As you know, every year the governor has an annual governor's dinner to recognize outstanding achievements in the state of Illinois," Voight explained.

"Yeah, bunch of brownnosers trying to get a wall plaque to hang in their office," Halstead commented.

"Well, this year we'll be getting a plaque to hang," Voight continued.

"What?" Everyone asked together.

"The governor has chosen the Intelligence team for their dedication and service in taking down the drug kingpin Garcia a few months back."

"We were just doing our job, Sarg," Dawson said. "We don't take down bad guys so we can get some recognition from the governor."

"I agree with you, but not going is not an option. This is the governor's dinner. I expect you all to be there." Everyone grumbled. "Oh, and it's black tie. That's it."

As Voight walked back into his office, the grumbling got louder.

"Black tie? Really?" Ruzek asked. He couldn't remember the last time he had donned a tux.

"At least we'll get good food out of it. And it's open bar," Atwater said.

"Do we really have to go?" Ruzek asked with a groan.

"If Voight says we're going, we're going," Olinsky answered.

"It's a good place to pick up women," Atwater continued.

"How would you know that?" Dawson asked.

"Buddy of mine went a few years ago as a plus one. He said there's lots of women there all dressed up and no one to take them home. Let's just say he went home with a different woman than he went with," Atwater explained.

"That's disgusting," Lindsey commented.

"At least we'll get to see this one in a dress," Halstead chimed in, pointing at Lindsey.

"In your dreams," Lindsey replied as she walked back to her desk.

Ruzek took his phone out of his pocket. Burgess had replied to him about meeting for lunch. Suddenly he couldn't get the image of her all dressed up out of his head.

An hour later, Ruzek was sitting in the corner of his favorite deli at a table for two. He kept glancing at the door, waiting for Burgess. She was late. After a few more minutes, he saw her rush in. He waved to get her attention and she joined him at the table.

"I'm sorry I'm late. I got stuck doing paperwork for Platt, which now means I have less than fifteen minutes for lunch. Sorry."

"It's ok. I ordered your favorite."  
Burgess looked at the chicken salad wrap in front of her. She smiled. It was nice that he actually remembered what she liked to order. When they met for lunch they always had to make sure that they were coming off as just friends in case any other officers happened to see them.

"Thank you," she said with her mouth full of sandwich. "So, how's your day so far?"

"Well, Voight told us that we're being honored at the governor's dinner this year," he answered, stealing a potato chip off her plate.

"The governor's dinner? That's a big deal."

"Yeah, I guess. No one really wants to go."

"Why not?"

He shrugged. "We don't need recognition for the work we do. It's our job. Besides, it's black tie."

"It's an honor to be invited. You should be excited. I'll help you pick out a tux. I'm sure you'll look very handsome."

"Maybe I'd be more excited if you agreed to be my plus one," he said.

"Adam, you know I can't go with you."

"Why not?"

She leaned in closer to him and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Because then everyone would know about us."

"We can just go as friends. Come on, Kim, I don't want to be sitting there in a monkey suit all by myself."

"I'm sorry. We can't. It would raise too many questions. But, you can come over afterwards and I'll help you take off that tux," she offered, suggestively.

"That sounds like a better way to spend my time than going to this stupid dinner."

Burgess' cell phone buzzed. She looked down at it and saw that it was a text message from Roman.

"It's Roman. I told him I was taking off for twenty minutes to have some lunch. Do you think he can handle the paperwork by himself? No." She read his message and smiled.

"What is it?" Ruzek asked.

"He wasn't texting about paperwork. Roman and I just got invited to the governor's dinner, too."

"Really?"

"Roman and I helped out in that case, remember?"

"Yeah. You guys were first on scene at the house."

"Well, apparently that's enough to get us an invitation. Voight just told Roman."

"Looks like we'll be going to the dinner together after all."

She shook her head. "No. Not together. We might be there at the same time, but we cannot act like we're together." She began quickly taking notes on her phone.

"What are you doing?"

"Making a list."

"Of what?"

"Of all the things I have to do to get ready for this dinner. You said it was black tie, right?"

"Yeah."

"So, I have to find a dress, get my nails done, figure out how I'm going to do my hair, find some shoes, buy new makeup because my makeup is absolute crap and…"

"Burgess, you're starting to act like a girl. It's scaring me a little," he teased.

"I thought me being a girl was one of the things you liked best about me."

"I suppose that's true."

Her phone buzzed again. She looked down at it and sighed.

"I gotta go. We just got called to a suspected domestic violence situation."

"Be safe," he said.

"Always," she replied with a smile.

Ruzek sat at the large, round banquet table, pulling at his bowtie. He hated wearing suits and tuxes were even worse. He felt like he was choking. The dinner was being held in a large ballroom at a fancy hotel in Chicago. Even though he desperately wanted to show up with Burgess, Ruzek had arrived solo so as to keep up appearances. She hadn't even let him see what she was wearing. She insisted that they not see each other until the actual dinner. For some reason, the wait was killing him. She had teased him all month that he wouldn't be disappointed in her dress and, although he could care less about fashion, he was dying to see what she was in. He almost never got to see her in anything but her uniform or Jeans and a T-shirt – not that he was complaining. She looked good in whatever she wore.

"Looking for someone?" Dawson asked as he walked over to the table. He sat down beside Ruzek and handed him a beer.

"No. Just waiting for everyone to get here and get this night over with," Ruzek answered.

"It's not all bad, you know."

"I'd think you of all people would think this is a load of crap."

Dawson shrugged. "I used to think that way, but being on the governor's good side isn't such a bad thing."

"Yeah, I guess you've got a point."

Ruzek scanned the room again, keeping his eyes on the grand staircase where everyone had to enter. Halstead and Lindsey were by the bar, getting drinks. He had to admit, Lindsey did look good in a dress. Olinsky and Voight were talking to a group of people at another table Ruzek didn't recognize. The amount of people in tuxedos and ball gowns around him was a bit nauseating. If he had to guess, he would say the dinner was easily for close to three-hundred people.

"Damn, Burgess cleans up good," Dawson commented.

Ruzek immediately followed his line of sight until he finally saw her. She appeared at the top of the carpeted stairs as if from a dream. She had gathered her dress in her arms so as not to trip on it, but she let it go, smoothing it down with her hands. She looked up and locked eyes with Ruzek. His mouth went dry. She was exquisite. Her dress was a light, shimmering blue. It was strapless and the glittering bodice hugged her every curve. At her thighs, the dress flared out in ruffles. Her hair was curled and pulled away from her face, but a few small tendrils still remained. She smiled when she saw Ruzek looking at her. As she walked closer to him, slowly in her high heels, he stood up.

"Wow, you look…amazing," Ruzek complimented as she walked right up to him.

"Thank you. You look very handsome yourself," she replied. "As do you, Dawson."

"Thanks," Dawson said. "Can I get you a drink?"

"Red wine would be great," Burgess answered more to get him out of hearing range than the fact that she actually wanted a drink.

"Coming right up."

Dawson headed off for the bar. Ruzek reached out to put his hand on Burgess' waist, but she shook her head just slightly. They certainly couldn't have any public displays of affection with the entire Intelligence team surrounding them.

"You really look incredible," Ruzek said softly.

"What? This old thing?" She teased.

"It's going to be really hard to keep my hands off of you."

"Well, you need to be on your best behavior for the next few hours. Besides, we have all night."

"You're killing me, Burgess."

"Keep it in your pants, Ruzek."

"Easier said than done," he mumbled as the rest of the team came to the table to sit.

As the rest of the night wore on, it was becoming increasingly difficult for Ruzek to keep his hands to himself. Burgess was sitting right next to him as they ate with Roman on the other side of her. The others were all sitting at the same time. The conversation ranged from how everyone's families were doing to cases they had worked on. Voight even regaled everyone with the tale of how he and Olinsky first met. With good food and plenty of alcohol flowing, everyone was having a pretty good time. Everyone, that is, except Ruzek who was dying to be alone with Burgess. At one point, Ruzek had slipped his hand under the table and put it on Burgess' knee. As he began to slid his hand up her thigh, she shot him a warning glance. That was the only time he had actually touched her and it wasn't even skin to skin contact. It didn't seem fair when she looked like she did.

"Who needs another drink?" Ruzek asked, knowing he needed to take a walk before he exploded. Everyone responded that they were just fine, but Ruzek got up anyway. He had to do something besides be tortured by the woman sitting next to him. He walked up to the bar and ordered a beer. He noticed a young, blonde woman standing next to him. She was attractive and was wearing a low-cut, high-slit dress that showed off the fact that she knew she was attractive.

"Are you being honored tonight?" The woman asked.

"My team is, yeah," Ruzek answered.

"Congratulations. It's quite an honor to be hand-selected by the governor."

"Thanks. How about you?"

"My husband works for the governor's office. We come every year. I have to admit, I think it gets more boring every time. Maybe you can help me be a little less…bored?"

Ruzek glanced over at the table and watched Burgess. She was laughing about something that Lindsey said. Seeing her so happy just made him want her even more.

"No, thank you," Ruzek said, not even giving the woman a second glance. He caught Burgess' eye. He pointed to the staircase and she nodded, understanding his meaning. He couldn't take another second not touching her. Completely leaving the other woman behind with her mouth wide open as if she had never been turned down before, Ruzek made his way to the staircase. He walked down the stairs to the lobby. He waited by the coatroom door until he saw Burgess at the top of the stairs. He ducked into the coatroom, managing to sidestep the bell hop who was busy helping a man who couldn't find his keys. Burgess carefully made her way down the stairs and made her way to the coatroom. Unfortunately, by the time she got there, the bell hop was back to paying attention.

"Can I help you, miss?" He asked.

"I just remembered I left my cell phone in my coat."

"That's no problem. Just give me your tag and I'll fetch it for you."

"I lost my tag upstairs."

"Ok. What does your coat look like?"

"It's black," she answered. The man turned to look at the coats. 99% of them were black. "Please, can't I just come in and grab it? I'm waiting for a very important call. It'll only take a minute." Burgess batted her eyes at him and leaned over, making sure that he got an eyeful of cleavage.

"I guess that won't be a problem," he answered.

"Thank you."

Burgess walked through the doorway and headed for the back of the coat closet. She was very glad when she saw just how big it was. There had to be hundreds of coats hanging.

"Back here," Ruzek whispered.

Burgess followed the sound of his voice. He was hiding behind two coat racks.

"You're going to get us kicked out of this dinner," she said quietly.

"I don't care."

He wrapped his arms around her and dragged her closer. His mouth was hot on hers in an instant. He kissed her long and hard, his hands running up and down her back. She hitched her leg against him, molding her body to his. He grabbed her leg and began trying to find the bottom of her dress so she could get his hands up, underneath it. The problem was, there were too many layers.

"Wait, wait…" Burgess panted. "We can't do this here."

"Why not?" He asked, continuing his assault on her neck. She could barely breathe when he found the one spot just below her ear that always made her shudder.

"Because I don't want to caught having sex in the coat closet. Besides, how are we going to explain that we're both missing?"

"You think too much."

"Adam…stop."

He finally stopped kissing her, but he didn't take his hands off of her. She planted her foot back on the ground and straightened her dress. She could only imagine what her makeup looked like.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I just had to touch you. You don't know what you do to me. And that dress…that dress should be illegal."

"I'm glad you like it," she said, smiling. "And you're not the only one who was dying at that table. I meant it when I said you look very handsome in that tux. And sexy."

"Really?"

He leaned in to kiss her again, but she put her hand on his chest to stop him.

"Look, we've got maybe another hour to go through the ceremony. Then I'll tell everyone I'm not feeling well and I'll leave. You can make up some excuse to go a little later and we'll meet back at my place. Deal?"

"Will you still have the dress on when I come over?"

"Yes. I promise you I will not take off the dress until you come over and take it off for me."

"Ok, then we have a deal," he agreed.

"Alright. I'll head back up first and distract the bell hop so you can get out without being caught."

"Are you going to distract him with your boobs again?"

"Hey, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do."

"And they are great boobs," he added.

He kissed her quickly one last time. As she started making his way through the coat room, he called out her name. She stopped and looked back at her. In that moment, seeing her standing in a beautiful dress, still flushed from his kisses, he knew.

"What is it?" She asked.

"I love you," he answered.

She didn't know what to say. "What?"

"I said I love you."

"Are you just saying that so I'll have sex with you in a coat closet?"

"No, but if that happens as a result of saying it, I won't be angry. I love you, Kim. I just thought it was about time you knew that. I'll see you upstairs."

She turned to walk away, but she knew she couldn't actually leave without saying what she needed to say. She turned to face him.

"I love you, too," she said.

He smiled. "Does this mean we can have sex in the coat closet?"

She shook her head. "Not a chance."

"Ok, just checking."

She turned and walked away, unable to stop smiling.

Author's Note: I really wanted to do a chapter that included dresses and tuxedos. I hope you liked it! On a side note, it will be a while before I can post again because I will be on vacation. I promise to update as soon as I return!


	18. Chapter 18 - Drunk

**Chapter 18 - Drunk**

It was a slow night at Molly's. Just past six o'clock, Ruzek and Burgess had both finished their shifts. They had agreed to meet at Molly's and then had plans to go to Burgess' apartment for a late-night rendezvous. Even though they knew they had to pretend to be just friends at the bar, Molly's did serve the cheapest alcohol around and they always knew they'd be in good company.

"So he was dressed as a woman?" Ruzek asked, sipping his beer. He was sitting at a high-top table with Burgess across from him.

"Yup," Burgess answered. "His own wife called the cops on him because she thought she was being robbed by some Neanderthal woman. Come to find out, the man just like to wear his wife's underwear and dress and makeup."

"I would have paid to see that."

"See, it's not all bad being a street cop."

"I bet you'd look pretty good in a dress, Ruzek," Atwater said, walking up to the table. He sat down on one of the empty stools.

"Haha," Ruzek replied.

Halstead approached the table, standing next to where Atwater sat.

"Yeah, Ruzek, you're a good looking guy," Halstead commented.

"Should I be weirded out that you noticed?" Ruzek retorted.

"I'm just saying, you're a good looking guy. So why don't you have a girl?" Halstead asked.

"Yeah," Burgess added with a smile. "Why don't you have a girl?"

"Too busy for a girl," Ruzek answered, taking a swig of beer while he eyed Burgess. She still hadn't wiped the smile off her face.

"That sounds like BS," Atwater said.

"I'm telling you guys, work takes up a lot of time," Ruzek continued. "Come on, you both know that."

"Yeah, but I always have time for the honnies," Atwater said.

"Besides, we all know you've got someone you're not telling us about," Halstead added.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ruzek denied. He glanced over at Burgess, hoping she'd jump in and help him out.

"I don't believe that. Those mornings you come in with that goofy smile on your face, practically humming…you can't tell me that's not because of a woman," Atwater said.

"Humming, huh?" Burgess said. Ruzek knew she was enjoying listening to the guys bust on him.

"Sounds like you have a girlfriend you just don't want to tell us about," Halstead joked.

"I don't have a girlfriend," Ruzek lied.

"Friend with benefits then?" Halstead guessed. "Sounds like the perfect relationship to me."

"Men," Burgess said, rolling her eyes.

"No offense, Burgess," Halstead responded.

"Well, you gentleman enjoy your evening, talking about women and friends with benefits," Burgess said.

Burgess dug through her person, left a twenty dollar bill on the table to pay for her beer, and walked out of the bar. Ruzek couldn't help but watch as she walked out. When he turned back, Halstead and Olinsky were staring at him.

"What?" Ruzek asked, hoping they hadn't noticed he was staring at Burgess in her form-fitting Jeans.

"Burgess is kind of hot," Halstead stated. "She's not your friends with benefits, is she?"

"Keep drinking," Ruzek replied.

Over an hour later, Ruzek stood outside of Burgess' apartment door. He knocked on the door. A few seconds later, the door opened. Burgess was standing on the other side of the door, wearing one of his T-shirts that was too long on her and nothing else.

"Halstead was right," he said.

"About what?"

"You're hot."

"Halstead thinks I'm hot?" Burgess asked. "Maybe if you and I are just friends with benefits, I should see if he's interested."

"That's not funny."

"It wasn't supposed to be."

"Can I come in or are we going to have this conversation in the hallway?"

"What conversation is that?" Burgess asked, stepping out of the way so that Ruzek could enter the apartment. He shut the door behind him.

"About what happened."

"What happened?" She asked somewhat sarcastically.

"You're mad because I said I didn't have a girlfriend."

"I'm not mad," she insisted.

"See, that's what women say when they're actually mad."

"I told you, I'm not mad."

"Do you know how badly I want to tell them you're my girlfriend?" He asked. "I want to shout it from the rooftops. I want to be able to kiss you at work and at Molly's and everywhere. I want to be able to walk with you into a restaurant and make every other man in that room jealous because they know you belong to me."

"I belong to you?"

"Ok, scratch the last one. The point is, I want to kiss you and hold your hand and…"

"Hold my hand? What are we? In middle school?"

"Stop interrupting my fantasy of us being together in public," he said.

"Sorry," she said with a smile.

"I want to do everything with you that we should be able to do but you know that we decided not to tell anyone."

"I know."

"What if we did tell them?" Ruzek suggested.

"No."

"Come on, imagine the looks on their faces if I were to stand up at Molly's and announce that we are a couple."

"You wouldn't dare."

"It would be pretty funny."

"Funny is not the word I would give it. Promise me you won't do that."

"I was just kidding."

"Promise me," she demanded.

"Fine, I promise I won't announce to all of our friends that we are a couple." He paused. "You know, most women would be pissed if a man was denying their relationship status."

"Well, I'm not most women."

"No, you're definitely not."

"So, what do we do now?" She asked.

"I could come up with a few ideas," he said, suggestively.

"Is sex all you ever think about?"

"I'm a guy so…yeah."

"Ok, just checking."

Burgess straddled him, sitting on his lap. She devoured his mouth, forgetting all about their secret relationship.

It was a week later when Ruzek and Burgess found themselves back at Molly's. Unlike the last time they were there, it was a busy night at the bar. Firehouse 51 was celebrating a factory fire where they managed to get everyone out alive while the Intelligence unit was celebrating putting another bad guy behind bars. Everyone was in a good mood and the drinks were flowing.

Ruzek was sitting at the bar, nursing a beer. Burgess was sitting on a stool on one side of him with Halstead on the other side. Atwater and Roman were a few seats down.

"Shots!" Halstead announced.

The bartender put down shot glasses in front of each of them.

"None for me," Burgess said, pointing to her beer.

"Come on, Burgess," Ruzek said. "Have a shot with us!"

"Yeah, we got the bad guy!" Atwater yelled from further down the bar.

The bartender poured them each a shot. Everyone but Burgess picked theirs up. They toasted to a job well done and downed the drinks. Burgess knew if she had that shot, she would start losing control. She had already one shot with the guys and two beers. Another one and she would be more drunk than tipsy. That's exactly how Ruzek was. That was his third shot and he was on his third beer. She had a feeling that she was going to have to drag him home and make sure he got to bed safely.

"You're slacking, Burgess," Roman shouted, looking at her shot glass that was still full.

"I'm good," she replied.

"Don't be a party pooper!" Ruzek slurred.

"I think you've had enough to drink for both of us."

"That sounds like something a girlfriend would say," Atwater commented. "You two have something you want to tell us?"

"You're reaching, Atwater," Burgess said. She knew she had to steer the conversation in another direction. "So, what's going on with…"

"You want to know the truth about me and Burgess?" Ruzek announced, having to shout over the noisy crowd.

"Ruzek, there's nothing to tell," Burgess said, trying to get him to shut up. He was clearly drunker than even she realized. She hoped, even in his drunken stupor, that he remembered their conversation about continuing to keep their relationship a secret. Burgess was not ready to let everyone know.

"Come on, Kim. They're our friends. Good, good friends. We gotta tell them the truth."

"Yeah, Burgess," Atwater piped up. "Let Ruzek tell us the truth."

Burgess eyed the shot glass in front of her. She picked it up, pretending to take a drink.

"The truth is…" Ruzek began.

Burgess dropped the drink in his lap, making it seem like an accident. Ruzek jumped up, brushing the liquid off his lap.

"Sorry!" Burgess exclaimed, grabbing a few napkins and shoving them at him. "I can be such a klutz. Maybe you should go get cleaned up in the bathroom."

Ruzek threw the crumpled up, dirty napkins onto the bar. He slid off the bar stool, wobbling a little as his feet hit the ground. He staggered his way to the bathroom. Burgess knew if she went after him, it would look a little suspicious. She also knew, however, that she couldn't leave him alone. There was no telling what trouble he might get himself into or what he might start blabbing about.

After Halstead and Atwater were deep in conversation about some suspect or other, Burgess quickly slipped away undetected. She made her way to the back of the bar where the bathrooms were. Ruzek was just walking out, his pants considerably wetter than when he went into the bathroom. He had clearly tried to wash the alcohol out, but managed to get himself soaked.

"You spilled a drink on me," he whined, still slurring his words.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm wet."

"I know. Maybe I should just get you home."

"Are you coming home with me?"

He attempted to put his hand on her waist, but she backed up.

"Not here, Adam."

"I want you."

"Let's get you home first."

"Home. I like home. I like your home. I like my home. I like home."

"Me too. Now come on."

She started to lead him down the hall, away from the bar. She figured it would be best to sneak out the back exit.

"You're always taking care of me, Burgess," he droned on. "That's nice. Having someone take care of you. You're good at it."

"Thank you."

She reached the back door.

"I think I love you," he said.

Burgess stopped in her tracks. She looked back at Ruzek. He was staring at the wet spot on his pants. She realized that considering how drunk he was, he probably had no idea what he just said. She tried to put it out of her mind as she opened the door and led Ruzek out.

The next morning, Burgess was sitting on Ruzek's couch, flipping through channels. She sipped on a mug of hot coffee and pulled a blanket tighter around her shoulders. It was a cold morning. She could hear Ruzek snoring from his bedroom. It had been a constant noise all night long. After she managed to get him out of the bar and into a taxi, he had passed out almost immediately. She struggled to get him out of the cab and into his house. It was even harder convincing him to go to bed. He eventually passed out and she had to take off his T-Shirt and wet Jeans. She attempted to lay down with him, but his snoring quickly drove her crazy. She retreated to the couch some time in the middle of the night. She hadn't gotten much sleep. She just kept thinking about what he had said. She knew he wouldn't remember it. She knew he probably hadn't even meant it, but the words still stuck in her head.

As she settled on watching a marathon of House Hunters, she finally heard Ruzek stop snoring. She listened as he flopped around on the bed for a few minutes. Eventually, he got up and staggered into the bathrooms. A minute later, he was sauntering into the living room with his eyes half closed.

"Coffee," he muttered.

Burgess got up off the couch and walked into the kitchen. She grabbed a coffee mug and poured him a cup. She handed it to him, knowing he liked it black.

"How are you feeling?" She asked quietly. She knew his head must be pounding.

"Like I got run over."

He gulped down the coffee before staggering to the couch. He flopped down, covering his eyes. Burgess turned off the TV and sat on the arm of the couch.

"I can get you some aspirin."

"What happened last night?" He asked.

"You had a little too much to drink at Molly's."

"Last thing I remember is doing a shot with the guys. And wet pants. I remember having wet pants."

"Yeah, sorry about that. I had to get you to stop talking about our relationship."

"What?"

"You were about to announce to the whole world that we were a couple so I spilled a drink in your lap."

"Good thinking," he said. "Did anything else happen last night?"

She thought about the three words he said to her, but she chose not to mention it.

"Nope. I got you home and put you to bed."

"Did you sleep out here on the couch?"

"You were snoring pretty loudly."

"Sorry," he apologized.

"It's ok."

"So…nothing else happened last night?"

"Nope."

He sat up and took her hand.

"So I didn't tell you I loved you?"

Her jaw dropped.

"You…remember that?"

"Yeah."

"Oh."

He put his hand on her cheek. She looked him in the eye.

"I might have been drunk, but I meant what I said. I love you, Kim."

She smiled. "I love you, too."

"I'm so glad to hear that."

He buried his hand in her hair and kissed her.

"It's a good thing I love you because you're breath is terrible," she said, laughing.

"Oh really?"

He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her on top of him. She playfully struggled against him as he peppered kisses across her face and neck.

"Brush your teeth!" She shrieked. "And take a shower while you're at it."

"Only if you join me."

"That can be arranged _if_ you brush your teeth first."

"You drive a tough bargain."

Ruzek stood up. As he headed off to the bathroom, he stopped and turned to look back at Burgess.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Now that we've come to the conclusion that we…love each other."

"It sounds corny when you say it like that," she commented.

"Well, corny or not, does this mean that we get to start telling people now?"

"No. Voight still can't know, Adam."

He shrugged. "It was worth a shot."

"You just want to be able to kiss me at work."

"You can't blame me for that. You're very kissable."

"Go brush your teeth."

As he walked off into the bathroom, she couldn't help but feel like a giddy schoolgirl. She was in love and she had never felt better.

Author's Note: Thank you for reading! I'm sorry for the long delay, but I had a great time on vacation! Please don't forget to review!


	19. Chapter 19 - Bad Day

**Chapter 19 - Bad Day**

Ruzek hopped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around his waist. With beads of water dripping onto the floor, he walked out of the bathroom and straight into his bedroom. He pulled out a pair of Jeans from his dresser and a black T-shirt from his closet. He threw them onto the bed and grabbed his cellphone from the nightstand. He was surprised that there was no message waiting for him. He had called Burgess before he got into the shower. She hadn't answered so he left her a voicemail. He wanted her to know that he was thinking about her. Every morning that he woke up without her in bed beside him, he immediately thought of her. He was starting to think he needed to make sure he never woke up without her. Ruzek quickly scrolled through his text messages. She had texted him the night before that she was working the night shift. He hoped everything was ok.

After finishing drying off, Ruzek changed quickly. He slipped his phone into his Jeans pocket, made sure he had his gun, his badge, and his keys, and left his house. As he drove, he kept glancing at his phone. He was hoping Burgess would call him or text him, but she didn't contact him.

Ruzek pulled into the parking garage of the police department and walked in the front doors. Platt was standing behind the desk. He quickly scanned the lobby, hoping to see Burgess around.

"Are you lost, Ruzek?" Platt asked.

Ruzek shook his head. "Nope."

"Last time I checked, your department was upstairs."

"Thanks for the reminder, Sarg," Ruzek replied.

Ruzek made his way over to the staircase and was about to start heading up towards Intelligence when he heard her voice.

"I heard you," Burgess exclaimed.

"You might have heard me, but you didn't listen to me," Roman replied.

"Maybe because I was the one driving!"

"Yeah, driving right into a sign!"  
"Please tell me you did not drive one of my cars into a sign," Platt jumped in.

"It wasn't like that, Sarg," Burgess began to explain.

"Did you put a dent in one of my cars, Burgess?"

"Listen, Sarg, it wasn't my fault," Burgess tried to explain.  
"If you were the behind the wheel, Burgess, then it is most definitely your fault."

"We were in the middle of pulling over a man who ran a red light when another car came out of nowhere and was about to hit us. If I hadn't swerved and hit that sign, we would have been…"

"I don't want to hear it!" Platt shouted. She grabbed the keys Burgess was holding right out of her hands. "You're not allowed to drive. Two months probation. You're not getting behind the wheel, Burgess."

"Two months?" Burgess shouted. "Sarg, I told you, it wasn't my fault. Roman, back me up on this."

"Nah. I like driving," he replied.

"Some partner you are," she remarked.

"Look, Sarg, if Burgess says it wasn't her fault, then…" Ruzek said, heading back for the front desk.

"I don't remember asking your opinion, Officer Ruzek," Platt stated. "If I wanted it, I would have asked."

Ruzek gave Burgess a look. He wanted her to know he was on her side. She rolled her eyes, clearly frustrated.

"Fine," Burgess said. "Our shift is over. Next time I'll let the other car just hit ours and maybe send Roman to the hospital."

"Uh-uh," Platt said. "Your shift isn't over until you fill out the paperwork."

"Paperwork?" Burgess questioned.

"You destroy one of the cars, you gotta fill out paperwork."  
"Sarg, we just did a twelve hour overnight shift," Burgess practically pleaded. "We'll do the paperwork tomorrow. And I have…"  
"There's no we, Burgess. You're on your own for this one," Roman said.

"I'm putting in a request for a new partner," Burgess said, even though she didn't mean it. She knew Roman was just as tired as she was and would much rather go home than do paperwork with her.

"The paperwork's not waiting for tomorrow, Burgess. It will be completed now. Don't make me ask again," Platt commanded. She turned her wrath to Ruzek. "Why are you still here?"

If people knew he and Burgess were together, Ruzek would have put his arm around Burgess and told her everything was going to be alight. In their current situation, all Ruzek could do was give her a quick wink before heading up the stairs to Intelligence.

Once upstairs, Ruzek went to his desk and began checking his e-mails. He couldn't stop thinking about Burgess. He knew the nightshift could be awful. He could only guess the reason why she hadn't texted or called him back was because it had been more than awful. He pulled out his cell phone and sent her a message.

'Sorry you got stuck doing paperwork,' he wrote. 'Want to do lunch?'

He waited a few minutes for a response.

'Can't. I have to testify in court later.'

Ruzek forgot that Burgess had been summoned to testify in a domestic violence case. She had been the first on scene and witnessed a man threatening his wife. Ruzek knew she was nervous about it. It was her first time testifying in court.

'See you tonight then?' He typed.

'My place. Bring beer.'

He smiled. 'Anything for you.'

It was just before eleven in the afternoon when Ruzek finally looked up from his computer. He and the other members of the team had been forced to attend an online seminar about sexual harassment. They all moaned and groaned about being forced into it, but they did as they were told to do. Ruzek looked at the time. He wondered if Burgess was still around. He knew she didn't have to be in court until noon.

"I'm taking a break," Ruzek announced, standing up. He stretched and made his way out of the room. He skipped down the stairs and scanned the lobby. Burgess was nowhere to be seen. He was glad to see Platt was turned around, her back to him. Although he certainly didn't need her permission to be out of Intelligence, he didn't need her questioning what he was doing. The same thing that made her a good cop made her an annoying person to be around. Ruzek slipped passed her into the locker room. He walked down the rows of lockers until he found Burgess. She was sitting on one of the benches, bent over a stack of papers. She had changed from her uniform to a black suit. She had taken her hair out of the ponytail. She looked incredibly professional, except for the fact that she wasn't wearing any shoes. She was completely barefoot.

"Hey," Ruzek said.

She looked up, startled. "Hey. What are you doing down here?"

"Looking for you. You look nice."

"Thanks."

"Are you still working on the paperwork for Platt about the damaged cruiser?" He asked.

"I've submitted it twice. She keeps rejecting it, telling me I don't have enough detail."

"That woman has a serious problem when it comes to those cars."

"Well, she better accept this one or else I'm going to be late."

Burgess stood up and opened her locker. She began digging through her bag, becoming panicked when she couldn't find what she was looking for.

"Missing something?" Ruzek asked.

"My shoes. I know I packed them last night before I came into work." She dug to the bottom of her bag and didn't find them. "Crap."

"What?"

"I threw them in my gym bag last night by mistake."

"So? Just wear your sneakers," Ruzek suggested.

"You want me to wear my sneakers to court?"

"You're just there to testify. Nobody's going to be looking at your feet."

"I cannot wear sneakers with this outfit! And it's not _just_ court. It's my first time testifying in court. I need to look…presentable." She began rummaging through the bag again.

"What are you looking for now?"

"My keys. I need to run home and get my shoes."

"Stop at my place. It's closer."

"I don't have heels at your place."

"Sure you do. You've got those shoes you wore the other night when we went out to that fancy restaurant."

"Those are red, Adam. I cannot wear red heels to court. They'll think I'm a hooker."

He shrugged. "I didn't think you were a hooker. I thought you looked hot."

He put his hand on her waist.

"Don't. We're at work," she warned.

Ruzek looked around. "There's nobody else here."

"Anyone could walk in at any moment." She threw her hands up in the air. "Damn it!"

"What?"

"My keys are in the squad car."

"The one you just sent to the garage because you ran into a sign?"

"I did not run into a sign!" She shouted.

"Hey, I was just kidding."

"You have no idea what kind of night I had."

He could sense she was beginning to get worked up. "Hey, it's ok. We've all had bad days."

"This wasn't just a bad day! This was the worst day! Our first call was a drunk guy who threw up in the back of the car. Guess who got to clean that up while Roman stood back, claiming that the sight of someone else's puke makes him puke? Our second call was a neighbor complaining about noise. Turns out it was a couple who was really into bondage. They asked Roman and me to join them." Ruzek laughed. "It's not funny!"

"Sorry. I just would have paid money to see Roman's face."

"Well, afterwards, we stopped for coffee except Roman didn't put the lid on right so on the first sip, the whole thing spilled all over me. On our third call of the night, we nearly got attacked by a guard dog. Oh, and the one time I asked Roman to pull over so I could pee because heaven forbid a woman has to use the bathroom more than a man, he pulled over at this disgusting gas station and I dropped my phone in the toilet."

"I guess that explains why you didn't answer any of my texts."

"I went and got a burner phone to use until I can get a replacement, but I can barely figure out how to use it and it doesn't have any of my numbers or anything in it. And to top it all off, I ran into a sign so that we wouldn't hit by some crazy ass driver who was too busy texting to pay attention to where he was going! And now I'm most likely going to be late for my first day testifying in court."

"Look, I have the key to your place right upstairs. I'll go grab it and then you can run to your place and get your shoes and…"

"No time," she interrupted. "I'll just stop at the shoe store on the way and buy another pair."

"You're going to buy another pair of shoes?"

"Do not question me right now."

"Sorry." He took her hand in his. She tried to resist since they were out in the open, but he held on tightly. "Listen, you're going to be great in court no matter what you're wearing on your feet. When you're done, you need to go home, take a shower, and take a nap. When I'm done, I'll come over with food and beer and we'll have a quiet night at home, ok?"

She nodded. "Ok."

Ruzek quickly pulled her towards him and kissed her hard and fast.

"I really have to go," she said.

"I'll see you later."

Burgess took her bag out of her locker and slung it over her shoulder.

"Bye," she said, desperately wanting to kiss Ruzek again, but knowing that was a bad idea. As she walked away, he brushed his hand against hers. Nobody who saw them would probably even notice, but it meant a lot to both of them.

"One more thing," Ruzek said. She stopped and turned around to look at him. "I love you."

She smiled. "Thank you."

"Go get 'em."

He winked at her before she walked away. As Ruzek started to make his way back to Intelligence, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out and looked at it. It was a number he didn't recognize. The message only had three words.

'Love you too'

Ruzek couldn't help but grin.

"What are you smiling about?" Platt asked, interrupting his thoughts.

"Nothing, Sarg."

"Then go back to where you belong."

"Yes ma'am."

Ruzek went up the steps with a smile on his face.

Author's Note: I got the idea for this chapter after a particularly bad day I had a few weeks back. I just love when Burgess gets all worked up and Ruzek has to "talk her down." Thank you for all of your great comments. I only have one more chapter planned, but if anyone has any requests, let me know and I'll see what I can do!


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20 - Bomb**

Burgess walked through the house, holding her gun in one hand and a flashlight in the other. She could hear Roman in one of the other rooms, meticulously going through the house to make sure there was nobody there who might jump out and surprise them. They had been called to a house where gunshots were reported. The place looked practically abandoned. The front door had been unlocked. They shouted several times to anyone inside that they were the police, but they had yet to actually find anyone in the house. The electricity was clearly turned off. The only light Burgess had was her flashlight.

"Clear!" Roman shouted.

"Clear in here too," Burgess responded. "I'll take the upstairs."

Burgess made her way up the wooden steps, still staying incredibly aware. She knew that just because a place looked empty didn't mean that it was empty. She climbed to the last stair. She felt the step give way slightly beneath her foot and she heard a click. Burgess immediately aimed her flashlight to her feet. The floorboard she was stepping on had sunk down less than a half an inch. It was barely noticeable, but she knew something was wrong. She looked around until she saw a thin, almost invisible wire going from the floorboard to a large, wooden cabinet a few feet away in the hallway. Even though she wasn't able to see inside the cabinet, Burgess knew what she was stepping on. She took a deep breath.

"Roman," she shouted.

"Yeah. You find something?" He asked, appearing at the bottom of the stairs. He shone his flashlight to where Burgess was standing.

"Call the bomb squad."

"What? Why?"

"I'm standing on a bomb," she said as calmly as she could.

"What?"

Roman put his foot on the bottom step, ready to run up towards her.

"Don't! Any wrong move could make this thing blow. Just call them."

Burgess closed her eyes as she heard Roman call the team on his radio. She had to remind herself to keep breathing and to stay absolutely still. Her life depended on it.

Ruzek didn't even wait for the car to stop before he jumped out and ran into the house. He could see the bomb squad was already there. Their trucks were lining the streets and officers were strewn in and around the house.

"Burgess!" Ruzek shouted as he ran into the house.

"Up here," she called.

He looked up the stairs and could see Burgess standing with her back towards him. There was an officer from the bomb squad up near her, but Ruzek couldn't see what he was doing.

"You ok?" He asked from the bottom of the steps.

"I've been better," she answered.

Ruzek let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. From the moment he heard over the radio that Burgess was standing on a trigger for a bomb and was in eminent danger, he felt his heart stop. Seeing that she was still alive gave him hope. Ruzek turned as Voight entered the house behind him. The sergeant at the top of the stairs near Burgess carefully walked down the stairs to join them.

"Hey Tom," Voight said. "What have we got?"

"Officer Burgess stepped on a trigger for a bomb," Tom answered.

"How bad is it?" Voight questioned.

"It's not good. There's enough C4 up there to level this building. Wooden panel under her foot slipped when she stepped on it. There's a wire running to a cabinet in the hallway where the bomb is located. If she steps off the trigger or even moves a little, this place is going to go."

"Can you diffuse it?" Ruzek asked.

"That's what we're working on. Only problem is, we're running out of time."

"What are you talking about?" Ruzek replied. "I thought you said as long as she doesn't move…"

"The bomb's also rigged to a timer."

Ruzek glanced up the stairs to look at her. "How much time?"

"From the moment she stepped on the bomb, it was set for thirty minutes. We're down to eighteen."

"Can't we just replace her weight on the trigger with something and get her and everyone out of here?" Ruzek asked, trying to think of anything to get her out of harm's way.

"It would be too risky. The weight and the timing would have to be perfect."

"Then what do we do?" Ruzek asked.

"We keep trying to diffuse that bomb. I've got my best guy working on it. And in the meantime, Officer Burgess has to stand as still a statue. I gotta go check on my guys."

"Thanks Tom," Voight said. Tom walked out of the house towards one of the vans parked outside.

"Ruzek, I want you and Olinsky to find out whatever you can about who owns this house and…"

Ruzek ignored him and walked up the stairs. He wanted nothing more than to bound up the steps to Burgess, throw her over his shoulder, and run out of there, but he knew he couldn't. He approached her slowly. With her back to him, he knew she didn't know it was him who was coming up the stairs.

"It's me," he said quietly.

"Adam, don't. You should get out of here."

As he came to the last step before the spot she was standing on, he kept his eyes trained on the floor. He could see two men from the bomb squad working on dismantling the bomb in the cabinet a few feet away. Very carefully, Ruzek managed to squeeze past her so he could stand in front of her. He could see the panic on her face, even though she was trying to hide it. Sweat was dripping from her forehead. She looked like she was ready to cry, but Ruzek knew she wouldn't. She was too proud to show tears.

"Hey, how are you doing?" He asked.

"I mean it, Adam. Get out of here."

"No. They're going to diffuse that bomb and we're going to walk out of here together, ok?"

Voight made his way carefully up the stairs. Ruzek took a step back from Burgess. He didn't want Voight to get suspicious about his and Burgess' relationship. He had already ignored Voight's direct order. That was one strike against him. He didn't need another. As Voight stopped at the top of the stairs, he eyed Ruzek.

"How are you doing, Burgess?" Voight asked.

"Just fine, sir," she answered even though she couldn't see him.

"How much do you weigh?" Ruzek asked.

"What?"

"We need to replace your weight with something else."

"Officer Ruzek," Voight said with a warning in his voice.

"Tom already said that wouldn't work," Burgess said.

"If they can't diffuse that bomb, we may have no other choice," Ruzek responded. "How much do you weigh?"

"One twenty-two," she answered.

"Probably more like one thirty with the gear she's wearing," Voight said. "I'll get Halstead and Lindsey on it."

Voight turned and went back down the stairs.

"Adam…" Burgess began.

"Don't," he cut her off. "We're all getting out of here alive. Ok?" She nodded. "I want to hear you say it."

"We're all getting out of here alive," she repeated quietly. She managed a weak smile as she said it, trying to stay positive. From the moment Ruzek arrived, the only thing she cared about was keeping him safe. Her own life didn't matter anymore.

"Good. Now tell me about when you were a flight attendant."

"What?"

"You never really talk about. Where did you fly to?"

"Adam, I don't think now is the time to…"

"Just tell me."

"Um…everywhere. I did a lot of back and forth between New York and Los Angeles."

"Meet any celebrities?"

Ruzek continued to keep up the conversation as minutes ticked by. He wanted to keep her mind off of what was happening and he didn't want to leave her alone. As they chatted, he watched as members of the bomb squad had gone up and down the stairs, trying their best to diffuse the bomb. They were down to five minutes left and they hadn't been able to dismantle it.

"What's the time?" Burgess asked, unable to see the timer inside the cabinet from where she stood. She could feel a cramp forming in her leg. She tried to ignore it.

"It doesn't matter," Ruzek answered.

Ruzek could see Voight and Tom talking quietly at the bottom of the stairs. He had a feeling he knew what their conversation was about. They were running out of time and Lindsey and Halstead weren't back yet with the proper weights that could possibly take Burgess' place.

"Come on down," Tom announced a few minutes later from the bottom of the stairs to the officer who was standing in front of the bomb, still working on trying to get it to stop ticking down. Before he left the area, the man gave Burgess a sympathetic look and then disappeared down the steps. Voight walked up a couple of steps and looked Ruzek in the eye.

"They can't give up," Ruzek said.

"There's no way for them to diffuse the bomb without it going off," Voight answered.

"We still have three minutes," Ruzek insisted.

Voight shook his head. "Not enough time."

"Then where's Lindsey and Halstead?" Ruzek demanded.

"It's ok," Burgess said quietly. She knew there was no hope. The only thing she could do was make sure that nobody else got hurt. "It's over."

"It's not over," Ruzek stated.

"I'm giving the order to vacate the building," Voight said. Ruzek stood completely still. He had no intention of going anywhere. "That includes you, Ruzek."

"I'm not going anywhere," Ruzek replied.

"Adam, you have to go," Burgess said.

"I'm staying," he insisted.

"Officer Ruzek, I gave you a direct order," Voight stated.

"With all due respect sir, it's an order I won't follow," Ruzek replied.

"Adam, don't be stupid," Burgess said.

Ruzek looked into her eyes, seeing her pain. Her lip was quivering. She was still trying to stay strong. She was still trying not to cry.

"I'm not leaving you," he said.

He reached out to cup her cheek with his hand, but stopped just centimeters from actually touching her. He knew just one touch could end everything.

"Adam, please," she begged.

"I wish I could touch you," he said.

A tear leaked from the corner of her eye.

"Please," she whispered.

"I told you. I'm not leaving you."

"Sir, you have to get him out of here," Burgess said to Voight. At this point she didn't care if Voight knew about their relationship. All she cared about was making sure Ruzek was safe. "You have to order him out. He won't leave. Please. Drag him out if you have to. Please just get him to safety."

"Officer Ruzek, you need to leave," Voight commanded.

"The answer is still no."

"Adam, please!" Burgess shouted. "You staying here, dying with me will not solve anything! You need to get out of here and save yourself!"

"I love you," Ruzek said. "I love you and I'm not going anywhere."

If Voight was shocked at Ruzek's admission, he didn't show it.

"Officer Ruzek…" Voight began.

"We've got it!" Halstead yelled, practically running into the building. He was carrying one end of a crash test dummy. Lindsey was holding the other end.

"It's too late," Voight said. "Clear the building."

"No!" Ruzek shouted. "We've got one minute left. Bring it up here."

"You cannot risk everyone's lives to save me," Burgess shouted.

"Bring it up here and leave," Ruzek said.

"Adam, Tom said it wouldn't work," Burgess reminded him, tears streaming down her face. She couldn't hold them back anymore. "Replacing my weight won't work!"

"What choice do we have? If it doesn't work, we're both dead in one minute. If we don't try, we're dead anyway."

"It doesn't have to be that way. You don't have to die. Please just go," she begged.

"Bring it up," Ruzek commanded.

Voight took Lindsey's end of the crash test dummy, ordering her out of the building. He and Halstead dragged the dummy up the steps until they reached Ruzek. He grabbed the dummy under the arms.

"I got it," Ruzek said. "Now everyone else should get out."

"Sergeant Voight, make him go with you!" Burgess shouted.

Voight stopped and clapped Ruzek on the back. It was as if he was giving Ruzek permission to stay; as if he understood. Ruzek nodded, thanking him for letting him stay. Voight and Halstead made their way quickly out of the building. With the crash test dummy in his arms, Ruzek looked at Burgess.

"On the count of three," he said.

"No. Don't do this. Please just go."

"Not a chance."

"Adam…"

"This has a much better chance of working if we work together."

She nodded, knowing he wasn't going to take no for an answer. "I love you," she whispered.

"One, two, three!" He grabbed Burgess' hand and dropped the crash test dummy at the same time. Without even stopping to think about it, he and Burgess fled down the stairs and out the front door. A wall of heat and loud noise exploded behind them, pushing them both to the ground. They fell hard on the pavement. Ruzek used his body to shelter her.

Everything that happened next, happened in a blur. The fire department began working on putting out the fire that the bomb created. Voight, Halstead, and Lindsey ran to where Burgess and Ruzek had fallen. They helped them to their feet and they ran further away from the blast. They finally stopped next to a large oak tree. Burgess leaned against the trunk and fell to the ground, her legs giving way beneath her. Ruzek immediately knelt beside her.

"You ok?" He asked.

"You didn't leave me," she cried, tears streaming down her face.

"I'll never leave you."

She pounded her fist against his chest. "You should have left! You could have died! You should have left!" She buried her face against his chest.

"It's ok," he murmured, running his hands through her hair.

She lifted her head to look at him. He cupped her cheek, rubbing his thumb over her skin. "You saved me."

"I'd do it all over again. I love you, Kim. I didn't just say that because we were both facing death. I love you."

"And I love you."

As she was about to lean into him to kiss him, she remembered that they were surrounded by all of the people they were trying to keep their relationship from. Burgess looked around sheepishly. Halstead and Lindsey both had big smiles on their faces. Voight was standing with his arms crossed. Burgess quickly scrambled to her feet and faced him.

"Sergeant, I…" She began

Ruzek stood up beside her, prepared to face Voight's wrath.

"You did good in there, Burgess," Voight complimented. "Not everyone could have stayed so calm and collected like that."

"Thank you, sir."

"And although you defied a direct order and what you did breaks all kind of protocol, you saved the day, Ruzek."

"Since when do we worry about protocol?" Ruzek questioned.

Voight smirked. "I can see you've been learning a lot."

"Yes sir."

"Well, I think you two have deserved the day off. We can talk later. Take care of her."

"Yes sir."

Voight walked away with Lindsey and Holstead following behind him.

"Voight knows about us," Burgess said as if she just realized what had happened.

"Yeah, he does."

"What do you think is going to happen?"

"I don't know. But right now, I'm going to kiss you."

He pressed his lips against hers, wrapping his arms around her. He never wanted to let her go again.

Author's Note: I know everyone has been waiting for a 'Ruzek saves Burgess' chapter. I won't lie – I started this chapter a while ago, but I was saving it for the end. With that being said, I did just have another idea pop into my head so I don't think this will actually be the last chapter after all. I hope you liked this one! Stay tuned for at least one more!


	21. Chapter 21 - Crying On A Suitcase

**Chapter 21 – Crying On A Suitcase**

Balancing a pizza box in one hand, Ruzek reached into his pocket with the other hand and grabbed his keys. He quickly located the key to Burgess' apartment, inserted it in the lock, and turned the knob.

"Hey," he called out as he walked in.

"Yes," he heard her say from the living room. "Thank you very much." He could tell he wasn't talking to him. He placed the pizza box on the kitchen counter and walked into the living room. Burgess was sitting on the couch, her laptop on a folding tray in front of her. She was looking right at the screen, smiling and nodding. He guessed she was on a video call with someone. He could hear a male voice speaking to her through the computer, but he couldn't quite hear what was being said.

Ruzek hung back, not wanting to disturb whatever it was that Burgess was doing. He did however smile when he saw what she was wearing. From the waist up, she looked very professional. She had on a bright blue blouse with a black blazer over it. Even her hair was out of its usual ponytail and he could see a hint of makeup on her face. It was what she was wearing on her bottom half that made him chuckle to himself. She was wearing a pair of pink pajama pants and had fuzzy slippers on her feet. He was glad that she was dressed at all. For two weeks she had barely gotten out of her pajamas.

Two weeks before, Burgess had been given a layoff notice. Over fifty cops throughout the city had been given one. It was part of the new mayor's budget plan. To cut spending, they had to cut jobs. Unfortunately, Burgess was caught in the crossfire. She had taken the news hard. She hated being stuck at home with nothing to do. Being a police officer was in her blood and not being able to do it made her depressed. Ruzek did what he could to support her. He tried to keep her upbeat and happy, but it was difficult. He knew if he had lost his job, he would feel the same way.

"Of course. I look forward to meeting you. Thank you again," Burgess said with a large smile. She closed the laptop and jumped off the couch.

"Good news?" Ruzek asked as she practically pranced over to him, clapping her hands excitedly. She threw her arms around his neck.

"Yes!"

She kissed him hard and fast. He looped his arms around her waist, pulling her in towards him. He kissed her back with as much ferocity as she was giving him.

"Did you get your job back?" He asked after a several seconds of breathless, frantic kissing.

"No, but I did just get an offer for a new job!"

"That's great, babe!" He said, squeezing her tightly. He felt relieved that she would finally be able to do what she loved again.

"They were very impressed with my application and Platt's recommendation."  
"I knew Platt always had a soft spot for you. So, where's the job?"

"Boston," she answered.

"Boston? As in Massachusetts?"

"That's the only Boston I know of."

"As in one thousand miles away?" He asked, his relief suddenly turning to panic. He had never considered that Burgess would be looking for a job outside of Chicago. He knew she had spent most of her two weeks off applying for jobs all over the place. He just never thought she would consider it.

"I've never really looked at how far away it is on a map, but that sounds about right."  
Ruzek dropped his arms and took a step away from her. He walked out of the room and into the kitchen. He immediately grabbed a beer from the refrigerator.

"That's pretty far," he remarked. She followed him into the kitchen and leaned against the counter.

"I guess, but this is Boston, Adam. You know I don't want to police a tiny town."

"I know, but there are other big cities, Kim. Big cities that are closer to Chicago."

"Not big cities like Boston. Besides, I have family in New England. And a buddy I went to the academy with works out there and he put in a good word for me and…and it's all just falling into place for me. I thought you'd be happy."

"I'm happy that you're excited, but I'm not happy for what this would mean for us."

"What do you mean?" She asked, not sure what he was getting at.

"We'd be one thousand miles away from each other."

"Ok, so we'll do long distance."

He scoffed. "Have you ever done a long distance relationship, Kim?"

"Well, no, but…"

"Neither have I," he interrupted. :And the reason I've never done one is because they don't work."

"You don't know that."  
"I know that I hate that I barely see you as it is with us working for the same precinct. I know that you know that we don't work a regular nine to five, Monday through Friday. It's not like we'd be able to hop on a plane every weekend."

"I'm not expecting that," she replied.

"Then how do you expect us to make this work?"

"I guess I hadn't thought that far ahead. But this is a good opportunity, Adam. I can't just sit here without a job."

"There will be other jobs," he tried to tell her. "Jobs that will be closer to home. I mean, have you even talked to your FOP rep about the layoffs?"

"Of course I've talked to my FOP rep! They don't see any foreseeable end to the layoffs. There just isn't enough money in the city, Adam. I have to be realistic."

"So…that's it, then? You just decided to take a job in Boston without talking to me?"

"We're talking about it now."

"Yeah, after the fact."

She put her hand on his arm. "Don't be angry."

"How can I not be angry? Did you even think about us?"

"Of course I thought about us, but I also have to think about me. I'm a cop, Adam. I need to be somewhere where I can be a cop."

"Let me talk to Voight. I'm sure he can…"

"No," she stated, cutting him off.

"Why not?"

"There are dozens of good cops who got laid off. The city just doesn't have the money. I'm not going to ask you to pull strings with Voight."

"He knows you're an excellent cop."

"That's not the point, Adam. I'm not going to ask my secret boyfriend to ask his boss to help me out."

"You're being unreasonable."

"I'm being unreasonable?" This time it was Kim who scoffed. "You're the one who won't even give a long distance relationship a chance."

"Because long distance relationships don't work!"

"You don't know that!"

"We've been going out for what? Three months now? This is still…new, Kim. What do you think will happen when we're a thousand miles apart? We'll end up resenting each other, that's what."

"Try seeing this from my perspective, Adam. What if the roles were reversed? What if you were the one who got laid off? How far would you go to do the job you love?"

"I sure as hell wouldn't make a decision without talking to you first," he exclaimed.

"Fine! Maybe I should have talked to you first, but I didn't think I had to!"

"Why not?"

"Because we're barely a couple, Adam!" She yelled. "Sure, we hang out every once in a while and have sex, but that's not a relationship! Nobody even knows about us. Not our coworkers, not our friends, not even our families. We're each other's dirty little secret!"

"Is that what you think?"

"It's the truth and you know it! I don't have a reason to stay!" The words escaped her mouth before she had a chance to think about them. Once she said them, though, she didn't feel like she could take them back.

"Fine," he said quietly. He felt defeated. He felt like someone had just torn his world apart. "Have a nice life in Boston."  
Ruzek stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him.

Three days later, Burgess found herself sitting alone at the airport. She couldn't get the fight with Ruzek out of her head. It was the last time they had spoken. Although she had picked up the phone a dozen times to call him, she never pressed 'send.' She was too afraid he would say they were better off apart. Just thinking about him brought a tear to her eye. She hadn't wanted it to end like that. She hadn't wanted it to end at all. She knew that taking the job in Boston was going to be difficult for them. Despite what he thought, she had thought about what moving would do to their relationship before she had accepted the job. She had thought about what it would be like to have a long-distance relationship, but she was sure she and Ruzek could make it work. Even though they hadn't been together for very long, she felt a connection with him that she had never felt with anyone else before. She thought he felt the same way. She thought they would both fight to make it work. Clearly, she had been wrong.

Burgess wiped away a tear that had fallen down her cheek. She did not want to cry. She had spent enough time crying over him. She knew she was doing the right thing for herself. She couldn't let her relationship hold her back. She never wanted to be that kind of girl. But sitting in the airport alone, clutching her suitcase with tears streaming down her cheeks, she was beginning to think she had made a very big mistake.

As Ruzek walked through the doors of the police department, he felt the same dread he had been feeling for three days. He knew he wouldn't be seeing Burgess at work. Even though his relationship with Burgess had been a secret from everyone in the police department, they somehow always found time to at least say hello to each other throughout the day. The bottom line was he missed her. He missed her at work, he missed her at home, and he especially missed her at night. He hadn't spoken to her since their argument and it was killing him.

"What are you doing here on a Sunday?" Platt asked as Ruzek walked by her desk.

"I've got some paperwork to finish up," Ruzek mumbled. The truth was he just didn't want to be alone at home.

"Don't you think you should be at the airport?" Platt suggested.

Ruzek stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Platt.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Officer Burgess is flying out to Boston today, isn't she?"

"I wouldn't know," he lied. He knew exactly when her flight was. It was taking off in thirty-four minutes.

"I'm only going to say this once, Ruzek, so you better listen up. You're an idiot."

"Thanks, Sarg."

"You're letting a girl like that get away?"

"I told you, I don't know what you're talking about," Ruzek insisted.

Platt scoffed. "I have eyes, Ruzek. You two thought you were so careful, but I know what I saw. Whispering to each other in the corner. Sneaking off to the break room together. You two were something and I can't believe you're going to let that all go because she's moving to another city."

Ruzek thought about denying everything Platt was saying, but he just didn't have it in him anymore. Besides, with Burgess gone, it wasn't like there was a reason to keep their relationship a secret anymore.

"She took the job without telling me."

"So?"

"So she made a life change that affected both of us."

"Let me repeat myself. So?"

"She's the one leaving," Ruzek continued.

"Did you fight for her to stay?"

"Well, we got into a disagreement and…"

"I didn't say fight with her. I said did you fight for her. Did you tell her you wanted her to stay?"

"Not exactly."

"Then what the hell are you doing still standing here?"

Ruzek sighed. "It's over, Sarg. We…"

"Over my ass. You two belong together. Don't ever tell her I said this, but Burgess is good. She's a good cop. She's a good person. And you two are good together. So, let me finish off by saying what I said to you in the beginning. You're an idiot."

Ruzek knew she was right. He was being an idiot. He didn't want to let Burgess go. He glanced at the clock on the wall. If he left the precinct and there was no traffic, he might just make it to the airport on time. He turned to leave.

"Ruzek?" Platt said. He turned around again. She was holding out a set of keys. Ruzek grabbed them. "Don't damage my squad car."

"Yes, Sarg. Thanks, Sarg."

"Just go."

Ruzek raced out the door and to the back lot. He found the squad car that corresponded to the keys Platt gave him. He immediately got in and turned on the siren. He was not about to lose her.

Speeding through the city, Ruzek kept glancing at the clock. Time was ticking away. He hoped Kim's flight was delayed. He tried calling her cell phone several times, but it went straight to voicemail. He silently prayed that he would get to her on time.

In the airport, Burgess's seat number was called to board. She wiped her tears away and stood up with her suitcase. She walked to the gate, handed the gate attendant her boarding pass, and walked silently onto the airplane. She couldn't help but notice the happy couple in front of her. They were an elderly couple holding hands. Burgess sniffled. When she located her seat, she stored her suitcase in the overhead bin and then sat down. She immediately pulled out her phone and set it to airplane mode. She couldn't help put tap on her 'photos' app. Immediately, dozens of pictures of her and Ruzek showed up. She began to flip through them, each one bringing more tears. As the rest of the passengers boarded, she concentrated only on her phone. She stopped when she came to an older picture of her and Ruzek in their police uniforms. They had taken it on the day they had been paired up together. It was taken before they got together as a couple. Ruzek was even still with Wendy at the time, but it was one of Burgess' favorite pictures. It reminded her of the good times they had together.

"Excuse me," someone said from the front of the plane. "Can I just get by, please? Sorry, but I need to…"

Burgess looked up, recognizing the voice. She spotted Ruzek in the middle aisle a few rows ahead of her. He was battling other passengers to get to her. Her eyes grew wide. She stood up and locked eyes with him.

"Hey," he said as he finally got closer to her.

"Adam, what are you doing here? How did you…"

"I bought a ticket."

"You bought a ticket for the flight. Why?"

"Because it was the only way I could tell you that I don't want this to end. You said you didn't have a reason to stay, but I have a reason. Me. Be with me, Kim."

"Adam…"

"I love you," he interrupted. "I have loved you from the very beginning and I'm sorry that I didn't tell you that sooner. I should have told you that night. I should have shouted it from the rooftops. I don't want you to go…"

"I can't be in Chicago without a job."

"You didn't let me finish," he said. "I don't want you to go without me."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm coming to Boston with you."

"What?" She asked, shocked. "What about Intelligence?"

"I'm sure there are Intelligence units in Boston. And even if I can't get a job with the police, I'll stock shelves at a grocery store or flip burgers or…or whatever. I don't care what I do as long as I'm with you."

"Adam…"

"Just tell me we're not over. Tell me that we have something worth fighting for. We can figure out the details later."

"We do. We do have something worth fighting for. I love you, too."

He looped his arm around her waist and pulled her towards him, crashing his lips to hers. Forgetting they were in a crowded airplane, they were surprised when the passengers around them burst into applause.

"What now?" Burgess whispered.

"I bought a ticket so I guess we're going to Boston together."

She shook her head. Finally, everything became clear to her and she knew what she had to do.

"No, we're not."

"What do you mean?"

"Our home is here, Adam. I know Intelligence isn't just a job. You and Olisnky and Halstead and Lindsey and everyone…you're all a family. We're all a family. I don't want you to lose that. I don't want to lose that."

"So…"

"So I'm going to call the Boston police department and tell them that I am declining their job offer."

"What about you?"

She shrugged. " I guess we'll just have to see what happens."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Positive."

"I love you," he repeated.

"I love you, too."

As Ruzek leaned in to kiss her again, a flight attendant tapped Ruzek on the shoulder.

"I'm sorry, but we do need to finish boarding the plane."

"Right, sorry."

Ruzek retrieved Burgess' suitcase down from the overhead bin and then took her hand. Together, they walked off the airplane, smiling.

"I'm sorry," Burgess apologized as they made their way back into the airport terminal. "I should never have left you. I should never have taken the job without talking to you first and I should never have…"

Ruzek silenced her with a kiss.

"It's ok," he said when they broke apart. "All that matters is that we're together." She nodded and they began walking hand in hand. "Oh, and there's one more thing."

"What's that?"

"Platt knows about us."

Burgess stopped. "What? You told Platt?"

"No. She sort of already knew."

"How?"

"Because she's Platt and she knows everything," Ruzek answered.

"Great, now I'll never get into Intelligence."

"I don't know about that. She was pretty happy about us being together."

"Wait, Platt is happy that we're a couple?"  
"I think she's truly a romantic at heart. But don't tell her I said that."  
Burgess laughed. "I'll take that secret to my grave." They continued walking. "At least one good thing came out of all of this."

"Oh? What's that?"

"You told me you loved me."

He smiled. "Yeah, I guess I did. And you told me you loved me, too."

"Yeah, I guess I did," she mimicked.

"Then I guess we can officially say we're in love."

"I guess we can." She paused. "Adam?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you say it again?"

He stopped and looked into her eyes. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

Author's Note: In case anyone was wondering, the idea for this story came from the song _Crying On A Suitcase_ by Casey James. This is the last chapter (unless some other great idea happens to pop into my head). I really feel like this story has run its course and I'm ready to move on to something else. Thank you to everyone who has read this story and especially to everyone who took the time to comment!

With that being said, I would like to announce that I have been working on another Burzek story. This will be a series of one-shots that includes some missing moments that I would have liked to have seen on the show. Please be on the look-out for that story coming soon!


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